


All These Lives

by ParadiseAvenger



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/M, Sexual Slavery, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-14
Updated: 2013-03-07
Packaged: 2017-12-04 11:54:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 35
Words: 91,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/710522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParadiseAvenger/pseuds/ParadiseAvenger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He was her slave, owned body and soul. She didn't want him. Hell, she even hated him! But he had never deserved what life threw at him. And there was plenty that life hurled down on him. It was a never-ending nightmare. AU. Adult themes. Secret Pairings.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Nameless

Please, check out my first ORIGINAL NOVEL! **The Breaking of Poisonwood by Paradise Avenger.** (Summary: People were dead. When Skye Davis bought me at a slave auction as a birthday present for his brother, I had no idea what my new life was going to be like, but I had never expected this. It all started when Venus de Luna was killed and I was to take her place, to become the new savior… Then, bad things happened and some people died. In the heart of the earth, we discovered the ancient being that Frank Davis had found and created and used to his advantage. The Poisonwood—)

I’ve had this idea in my head for a while and I was going to wait until I finished His Broken Body, but… As you can see, that didn’t work out so well. So, please, enjoy!

And REVIEW!

X X X

_“You’re not a person! You’re a disease!” She shouted, shoving on his wounded shoulders. The pads of gauze soaked through with dark crimson blood, rolling like tears down his bars arms. His back hit the wall and he crumpled down like a sheet of porcelain-white paper._

…

The boarding school at the edge of the sea cliffs was tall and imposing and shockingly beautiful. The grey stone shimmered in the early Saturday morning sunlight. The sparkling windows were polished like diamond, offering peeks into the lavish prestigious school. Students milled through the enclosed courtyards, each flanked by a slender cowering figure. A few were forced to crawl and some limped bitterly from cruel injuries. Each wore a heavy iron collar around their skinny scarred throats.

Slaves. 

Each student had a slave… beaten, battered, starving, tormented… owned, body and soul!

Even as the world looked on, one of them stumbled on the cobblestones. The young woman had a bad limp, most of her leg bandaged thickly and mangled, and she staggered into her master. The blow was instantaneous and echoed louder than any gunshot. She smashed into the ground, flesh skinning off her face. Though her eyes welled with tears, she got quickly to her feet and resumed slogging along behind him. Even when her broken body slid across the jagged stones, he hadn’t batted an eyelash. She was a piece of worthless property, his…

At the base of the towering black cliffs was the crashing ocean, ebbing and flowing without a care to the world above it. 

In her dorm room, one she didn’t share with anyone, fifteen-year old Kairi Hart, flopped backwards on her bed with a huff. “A slave,” she hissed bitterly. “I don’t need some stupid little shadow fawning over me all the time.” 

Her mother made a sound over the phone. “Kairi, either you can do this yourself or I will pick for you and you’ll find one at your door when you wake up tomorrow.”

“But,” Kairi whined. 

“No,” her mother said firmly. Her voice had that edge of cold steel in it. “I sent you some money last week and told you to have one by today. You haven’t done what I said. There should be consequences. Go out and buy one now!” 

They talked for a few more minutes about school and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Then, finally, they hung up. Kairi collected the creamy envelope of money her parents had sent her from her favorite hiding place beneath her mattress. Then, she pulled her favorite red wool peacoat over her shoulders, grabbed her car keys, and stomped from her room. She passed a few “friends” in the hallway, but was too annoyed to talk with anyone.

Kairi hated slaves with a passion she used to reserve for spiders and rotting meat. She thought they were disgusting and abjectly useless for anything other than menial chores. 

Riku Shark was tucked around the corner from her dorm, enjoying the attention several girls were giving him. He was gorgeous and handsome. His shoulder-length hair glimmered like spun-silver floss and his jewel emerald eyes sparkled in his pale aristocratic face. His slave, a small frail girl named Yuna was hunkered on her knees beside him. She had fresh bruises on her face and wrists. She wore a pair of his old jeans, full of holes, and cinched at the waist with a length of rope. She was so thin that the fabric bunched up for several inches.

On a normal day, Kairi would have given anything to have Riku say something to her, but today she was too angry. She stormed right past him, not even sparing a glance at his drool-worthy body. 

…

The sun was shining on the waves, skipping stained glass colors against the low grey cloud cover. Usually, Kairi loved driving on the road beside the sea, loved looking out over the endless waves. Where the sea and sky met, there was a line of glimmering rose-red dividing them. The sight disturbed her.

The Slave Center was a tall plain redbrick building on the outskirts of town. Kairi parked in front, got out, and slammed her door without much thought. The interior was cool and moist like a basement, subterranean. The walls were painted eggshell with stiff black leather furniture and several stunning paintings of cheery scenery. 

There was a pretty blonde in a neatly pressed red suit with a white cashmere blouse and towering white stiletto heels. She stood up when Kairi entered and offered a winning blood-colored-lipstick smile. “Hello, how can I help you on this fine day?” she said. Her voice was soft and husky. 

“Hi, I need a slave,” Kairi said plainly and put her hands on the front desk. 

The woman smiled. “Of course, miss. What type were you looking to purchase?”

Kairi blinked at her, confused.

She smiled, eyes laughing. “My name is Amy. I’ll help you out. We have all types, anything from sex to hard labor to menial cooking.”

“Sex?” Kairi sputtered.

Amy nodded. “Were you… wanted a sex slave?”

“No!” 

Amy had a small laugh at her expense. “Would you just like to look around? Maybe see if anything strikes your fancy?”

Kairi nodded. “Sure, that sounds good.”

As Amy unlocked a door and unleashed a musty waft of burning antiseptic air that did nothing to disguise the stench of old blood, she asked, “So, what kind of spirit were you looking for?”

“Spirit?” Kairi repeated.

Amy nodded. “Completely shattered? Maybe still a little rebellious? Unbroken and new?”

“Um…”

“Still just want to look?” Amy said with a smile.

Kairi nodded.

Amy led her down the dimly lit hallway, chattering amicably. “If you even had an idea of what you wanted, it would help narrow down the selection.” 

“Well, I don’t need a hard labor slave. I’m a student at Kingdom Boarding School.”

Amy murmured, “That’s a wonderful school. How old are you?”

“Fifteen.”

“So could we narrow the age category?”

Kairi nodded. “Of course.”

“Fifteen to sixteen?”

“Sure.” 

“What about the sex of your slave? Male or female?”

“I don’t know… What would you suggest?”

Amy cocked her head. “I like the boys personally.”

Kairi nodded.

Amy went to a board on the wall and ran her finger down the chart. “Alright, let’s go to the fourth floor, section… 13.” The elevator was a welcome relief to the stench of blood and antiseptic. “Alright, this is a mix of all our slaves in your age category. Hard labor is to the front and sex is all the way at the back. Would you like me to go with you or I can wait here for you?”

Kairi glanced at the men with bulging muscles and pearl white scars trapped behind the heavy bars. “You could come with me, in case I have questions.”

Amy paced forward and gestured to a few cells, rattling off the characteristics of the slaves inside. 

Kairi found her mind wandering. Her blood was pounding in her ears and her heart was racing. An urgent feeling had blossomed beneath her ribcage, compressing her organs. She tried to ignore it and pay attention to Amy.

“Oh, you may not want this one, he’s a little… strange.”

Abruptly, the urgency subsided. “Strange?” Kairi asked. “Strange how?”

“Well…” Amy toyed with the edge of her red skirt, picking off lint. “He appears completely broken, shattered spiritually, but he absolutely refuses to tell us his name.”

“His name?” Kairi repeated and peered into the dark cell. She could barely make out the slumped figure lying strewn on the cold concrete floor. “What do you mean?”

“We have all our slaves given names recorded in their papers. Whether their masters choose to keep those names is up to them, but no matter what we do to him, he just won’t give us his name,” Amy explained. “He’s so broken. I mean, he jumps at every command, bows with his face in the dirt, but he just won’t give up his name.”

“Has he been sold before?”

“Yes, several times.”

“Why has he been returned?” 

Amy went to the sheaf of papers tacked up beside his cell and leafed through them. “It says here that his last mistress needed someone uglier since she was getting married and her husband was uncomfortable with her having an attractive slave.”

“Attractive?” Kairi repeated. For a slave to be referred to as attractive, he must have been stunning. Slaves were never considered attractive, not even top sex slaves. “What kind of slave is he?”

“Just a normal slave. He has no special skills of any sort,” Amy said. 

“Is there any way I could see him better?”

Amy flipped a switch, flooding the cell with blinding light. Then, she said in a bitter and authorative voice, “Slave, get up!”

He continued lying on the floor like a crumpled paper doll.

Then, Amy lifted a small flat black remote from a bracket on the wall and pressed a button labeled with a clear “S.” With a howl of pure anguish that set Kairi’s teeth on edge, he lurched into a sitting position, clutching and clawing at his throat where a thick black iron collar ravished the soft skin. 

“What are you doing?” Kairi asked, unnerved by his screams of agony.

Amy released the button and said nonchalantly, “The collar is equipped with several punishments that you can control with this remote. S is a shock.”

Kairi glanced at his slumped form. 

“Get up,” Amy snapped. “Or I’ll shock you again.”

This time, he pushed himself up on his twig-thin arms, trembling with weakness. His fingers were ragged and bloody, torn apart, and the flesh was filleted at his wrists. His back and chest still possessed smooth unmarred porcelain-pale skin.

“Lift your face.”

As if weighed down by the collar, he lifted his head slowly. His face was perfect: high cheekbones, strong chin, full lips though they were chapped raw, white straight teeth where they dug into his lower lip, beautiful cerulean sky-colored eyes with lashes so thick they were like twin fans, and smooth creamy skin unmarred by any scars or blemishes. Framing his face were thick locks of chocolate tresses. They stuck out at wild angles, defying all gravity of the weight of the dried blood that hung at his forehead. There was a thick gash there, ugly and fresh.

“He did that to himself when we tried to get his name. Our best breaker gave him a choice between his face or his name. He did that before he could be restrained,” Amy explained. 

“All over a name,” Kairi repeated. Her lips curved of their own accord. “I want him.”

“Are you certain? He is… unusual…”

“I’m sure. Wrap him up. I’ll take him to go.”

Amy laughed anxiously, slightly unnerved by the malicious look in Kairi’s indigo twilight-colored eyes. “Alright, just let me fetch his paperwork and get someone to clean him up. You can go ahead back to the office or wait here a moment.”

“I’ll head on back,” Kairi said with a smile.

Amy put the remote into the pocket of her skirt and glanced at the shivering nameless slave. “I think you’re in for it,” she said absently. “Poor bastard.” Then, she pressed the intercom button and said, “Hey, Howie, can you hose down Nameless?”

“He leavin’?”

“Yeah. Oh, and make it fast.”

…

Half an hour later, Kairi was on her way back to school with her new slave perched in the passenger seat. He had been hosed off and redressed in worn jeans and a tattered t-shirt though it did little to get rid of the stench of blood, sweat, and antiseptic on him. His damp hair was plastered across his face, hiding his features and sticking to his cracked lips. On the console between them was a neat plastic bag of paperwork with the punishment remote shuffled somewhere inside. Kairi kept glancing at the bag as she drove.

The ocean was smooth as glass and the day’s cloud cover had burned off. The moon and stars were reflecting beautifully off the dark velvet surface. The white strip of beach glowed like a ghost and in the distance the last rays of light pink sunlight faded at the seam of sea and sky. On the horizon, the school’s windows were lit with warm amber light.

Kairi pulled into the lot, parked, grabbed the bag of paperwork, and got out of the car. For a moment, she stared in through the window. Her slave hadn’t moved a muscle. She tapped on the glass and shouted, “Hey, let’s go!”

Immediately, he jolted out of the car and closed the door with surprising gentleness. He was unsteady on his feet, staggering as if dizzy or weak. Then, he turned his face to the sky and if Kairi didn’t hate him already, she would have been touched by how blissful he looked just to have the fresh sea air on his face.

X X X

People have been really bad with reviewing lately. His Broken Body had over 1,000 views, but only 20 reviews. Bad ratio! So everyone should REVIEW!

REVIEW!

Questions, comments, concerns?

REVIEW!


	2. Burning

Someone mentioned that they felt like they had read this before… I did write another slave story, but it was for Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and I have something very different in mind for this story as compared to that one. If there’s another story from Kingdom Hearts that’s similar to mine, I don’t know about it. 

So, with that out of the way, on with the show!

X X X

Night had fallen across the sea and the stone boarding school. A chilly wind blew in off the ocean, rustling the dry dead leaves in the bare skeletal branches of the big cypress trees that swept around the school grounds. In the distance, sea birds cried.

Fishing the key from the pocket of her jeans, Kairi unlocked her dorm and glowered at her new slave until he slipped past the threshold. Then, she slammed the door with an earth-shattering bang. Someone next door yelled for her to keep it down, but she ignored them. She dumped the bag of paperwork on her bed, grabbed the punishment remote, and turned to face him.

“Tell me your name,” she snapped.

His hands clenched into fists on his jeans, digging into his thighs. The tendons stood out on his long thin fingers, veins blue beneath the porcelain-pale flesh. Slowly, he shook his head in a barely perceivable protest. 

“I’ll hurt you.”

He nodded, fingers clenching white on his pants in preparation. 

Kairi thumbed the button, caressing it. Should she shock him? Finally, she put the remote into her pocket and went to the bathroom. She carelessly spun the knobs and growled, “You reek. Clean yourself up. Take more than twenty minutes so I know you’re good and clean. Use my shampoo, but don’t use too much!”

Again, he quietly dipped his head and went mechanically into the bathroom. He closed the door so softly that it was like a whisper.

Kairi flopped back on her bed, glaring at the ceiling. She didn’t want a slave. Why was that so hard for her mother to understand? So now, here she was, in possession of a strange nameless silent bastard. She hated how he made it hard to hate him and vowed to harden her heart. She would kill this one, torment him to death, and prove to her mother that she didn’t want a slave!

She rolled over and flipped on the television. 

Absently, she realized more than twenty minutes had passed and she glanced at the still closed bathroom door. As if sensing that she was watching, the water shut off. Without the roar of the water, Kairi immediately heard it and the sound went deep into her chilled bones. 

A small keening whimpering whine, like a dying kitten, lost in the dark, starving to death, hurt and afraid…

She bolted to her feet and yanked open the door without thinking. 

Standing there, dripping, was her slave. 

The towel was slung low around his pressing hips, revealing most of his body to her eyes. He was hauntingly thin, skin and bones, porcelain stretched over a frame of broken glass. His ribs were crooked and bent from many breaks, every dip and bump visible for his thinness. Over that pale flesh, countless scars snaked from the lash of a whip or the cut of a knife and there were a few fruitlike bite wounds. She had not seen these scars while he was slumped in his cell. His coffee-colored hair was plastered to his face and neck, radioactive sky-colored eyes glowing through the dark chocolate tresses like molten sapphires. Some faint pink was running down his face from the gash in his forehead. His chapped lips were split viciously as if someone had cut his mouth with a knife and his skin was deep burning red. Even worse than all that combined was the deep bloody crags that had formed in the flesh on top of his shoulders. Blood rolled down his arms, dripped off his fingers. The seared skin peeled before Kairi’s very eyes, revealing muscle and sinew and bone beneath.

Despite how she had vowed to murder him cruelly only moments earlier, her heart broke at the sight of his peeling burned damaged flesh. “H-how hot was that water?” she whispered and the realized that she had carelessly set the temperature herself. 

He must not have adjusted it.

So broken…

He ran his damaged fingers up his arm, over his bicep, to gently pull a string of tattered flesh from his shoulder.

“Stop that!” Kairi shouted and pushed him against the vanity. 

His hips cracked on the cold marble loudly and he made another small sound of anguish. 

“Let me get some gauze,” she muttered. “Try to staunch that bleeding. Run cold water in the sink. And quit dripping on the floor!” Kairi fished beneath the sink for her box of assorted First Aid supplies, found it, and pulled it out.

Her slave was dripping blood purposefully into the sink off his fingers and biting his brutalized mouth hard enough to make more blood drip off his chin. He was a never-ending pool of blood.

“Stop it!” Kairi grabbed a mess of tissues and shoved them down on his shoulders. He whimpered in agony, squirming beneath her hands, and she immediately pulled back. He gripped the rim of the sink, blood dripping from his damaged fingertips. 

It seemed like no matter what she did, he was just going to keep bleeding. 

Biting her lip, she ran a wash cloth beneath the cool water, wrung it out, and pulled the tissues from his shoulders. Gently, she wiped the blood from his arms and dabbed gently around the deep jagged wounds in his shoulders. The cloth was soon completely red and she rinsed it out. Again, she wiped at his arms and shoulders, doing her best to clean him up even as the flesh just sloughed off his shoulders.

“Why didn’t you adjust the temperature?” 

He was silent, dripping blood from his mouth onto the vanity.

“Do you understand what I’m saying?”

He nodded.

“Are you a mute?”

He shook his head. 

“Well, why don’t you speak?”

He shook his head again, but she didn’t know what she was supposed to get from that. 

Kairi taped a pad of gauze neatly over his shoulders, securing it with a mess of tape, and watched the blood soak through. 

“Look at me.”

Nothing. It looked like he had stopped breathing.

“Look at me!” She gripped his face and turned it harshly.

His skin was blazing hot, like fire burned inside him, and he kept his eyes lowered. 

“Lift your eyes.”

He flicked them up quickly and then slammed them down again. 

Kairi put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed. His knees trembled and it seemed for a moment that he was going to collapse, but he dredged up some strength from somewhere and straightened. That small keening sound issued from his throat, chilling Kairi’s bones.

Abruptly, Kairi released him, unnerved. “Sleep in the bathtub so you don’t bleed all over the floor,” she snapped at him. Then, she washed his blood from her hands and half ran back to her bed. She burrowed beneath the covers and pulled the blankets over her head. Shivering, she watched his skinny shadow through the crack beneath the door until the light went out. Then, she fell into an uneasy sleep.

…

Saturday. Every student’s favorite day.

The morning dawned promisingly bright and warm with a smooth breeze blowing off the sea. The waves sparkled like glittering jewels and the beach glowed like a beacon in the golden sunlight. A few people were already out on the beach, jogging or taking an early swim. The remnants of a destroyed sand castle cast a long jagged shadow across the bright sand.

Kairi groaned and fought her blankets, protesting the beam of sunlight that snuck beneath her blinds. She rolled over, cutting her eyes to the closed bathroom door. It was quiet in her dorm except for people moving around next door and water running somewhere on the floor. She shoved back the covers, put her cold feet on the floor, and got up. She padded lightly over to the bathroom, started to timidly nudge open the door, and then gave herself a shake. This was her dorm, after all. She shouldered open the door with a bang.

Her slave was lying in the tub, blood smeared on the white porcelain sides. The gauze had slipped off his shoulders, exposing the deep craggy burns beneath. The wounds had closed over since the night before but they were still incredibly ugly and painful-looking. 

Kairi forced her eyes to narrow and toed the side of the tub. “Hey, wake up.”

His eyes snapped open immediately, lightning blue eyes out of focus with the vestiges of sleep. For a split second, his eyes touched hers and then it was like steel doors slamming shut. The eyes were the windows to the soul, but his gave up nothing. It was like looking at a blank sky-colored wall… absolute nothingness… Maybe he was nothing.

“Get out of here. I need to shower. Put on some fresh bandages, stitch yourself up, whatever, just buzz off,” she snapped at him, unnerved by those empty eyes. They were like blue glass marbles. 

He rose from the tub smoothly as if his body was made of slips of folded silk, stepped over the rim of the tub, picked up the First Aid box, and left the bathroom. Once again, he closed the door so quietly that Kairi barely heard it. 

She turned on the water, adjusting the knobs to the perfect blissful temperature. She stripped, refusing to look at her bared body in the mirror, and ducked beneath the spray. She shaved her legs and scrubbed her fingers through her thick cranberry tresses. Sufficiently clean, she toweled off and then realized that her clothes were in the other room. 

This having a slave thing was going to take some getting used to.

Sticking her head around the doorjamb, she saw something she never wanted to see again. Her slave was sitting cross-legged on the floor, slowly and purposefully stitching the jagged burned on his shoulders. Over and over, the needle passed through his tattered flesh, edges pulling neatly together. Drops of crimson blood were rolling down his arms but he caught them to pool neatly in the palm of the hand he wasn’t using to stitch. 

Kairi ducked back into the bathroom, leaning on the vanity and trying to catch her breath. After what seemed a sufficient amount of time, she peeked back into her dorm. Her slave was sitting exactly as he had been, but the kit was closed. He had fresh gauze taped over his shoulders and had bandaged his torn wrists and fingers. The blood was clean neatly form his skin, a damp wipe folded up on top of the kit all smeared with blood.

“Shut your eyes while I get dressed. If you peek, I’ll gouge them out.”

Her voice sent a visible shiver through him, but he nodded and dipped his head into his lap.

First, Kairi donned her favorite violet bikini beneath her clothes in case she decided to go to the beach. Then, she squeezed herself into her size zero black jeans, wiggled a useless silver chain belt over her hips half-in and half-out of her belt loops, and shoved her feet into red Converse sneakers. Then, she burrowed through her dresser in search of the perfect shirts, sifting through several before settling on a form-fitting red tank top with black lace sleeves. She plumped up her breasts, arranging them for maximum cleavage. Finally, she fastened her cranberry blood-colored tresses back with a long black ribbon, put on some lip gloss, and made a kissing face at herself in the mirror. 

“Let’s go,” she snapped at her slave.

Today was the day she was going to land herself the school’s hottest catch, Riku Shark.

X X X

Plot’s a little shallow so far, but it’s only the second chapter. I have some dynamic stuff coming up… more characters, more abuse… etc, etc.

So, how’s everyone doing today?

Review!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	3. Roxas and Riku

So, everyone seems to be hoping this story will be less gruesome than His Broken Body. I can’t say it’ll be less gruesome per say, but there won’t be any raping tentacles in it. Some people will be suffering, but nothing out of the norm.

Oh, and I just have to say… We’re watching Beowulf in my English class and he fights Grendel (big scary monster that eats people) completely butt-naked!!!! It was so hard to take The Great Beowulf seriously when his junk is all flopping around and they keep putting random crap (elbows, vases, helmets, and legs) to block his cock from the shot. Hahahaha!

X X X

Roxas gently pushed Namine’s hand from his leg, catching that small shard of regret that shot through her beautiful ice-pale eyes. He hated to see that pain and he hated it even more when he was the cause of it. But, as always, the look passed quickly and she didn’t say anything. 

She couldn’t. 

Namine was his slave. 

She was his beautiful-ugly and wonderful-horrible, scarred-perfect and beaten-brave slave, his possession. And that was all she would ever get to be. The only thing he could tell himself to make that fact better was that he was kind to her always. She didn’t want for anything except the things he couldn’t give her–freedom, family, safety…

Even now, he hated to push her away. He hated that he needed to uphold his reputation, but he did.

He glanced up, catching the beginnings of the show that went on rather frequently. Most Saturdays he took Namine for a walk on the beach, talking to her kindly, in order to miss the show, but today… something stayed him.

Riku Shark strolled into the cafeteria with his beaten Yuna trailing behind him. Her wrists were more bruised than ever and her lips were split and swollen. Her dark hair hung stringy and damp in her face, streaked with something sticky and white. Riku piled his tray with food: pancakes, sausage, bacon, toast drowning in jam, scrambled eggs, waffles, pastries, and all manner of other specials that were offered. 

Roxas could see Yuna’s mouth watering and she pressed her hands to her stomach, surely growling with starvation. Beside him, Namine tensed, a shudder running through her. He wanted to reach out to her, but his reputation…

Riku snagged a table, tossing his silver hair to get girls to coo. Behind him, Yuna knelt. Her bare legs prickled with goose bumps and she tried to pull her short skirt down enough to cover her thighs, but to no avail. He made a little light conversation and then dug into his massive breakfast.

As always, the cafeteria door exploded open and Kairi Hart made her Saturday entrance. She was dolled up, as she always was, just for Riku. But today, there was something different about her. Behind her, there lingered a slender shadow with wild hair and radioactive blue eyes that were glued securely to the floor. 

A slave…

Roxas knew she hated slaves, sometimes even going out of her way to make a snide comment at Namine or Yuna or some other harmless slave. Most people treated their slaves poorly, but Kairi absolutely hated them. 

Namine’s fingers dug into the table, gripping it tightly, as she craned her neck to see. Roxas wanted to scold her for staring, but his own eyes were drawn. 

Hell, everyone’s eyes were drawn.

Kairi Hart’s slave was a beautiful-ugly creature, gorgeous as if carved by the Gods with airbrushed ivory skin, but scarred and battered with that look of pure dejection on his crumpled face that all broken slaves possessed. Dark chocolate locks framed his face, sticking up wildly as if slept on though he walked with the stiffness of having slept in an uncomfortable position rather than propped on a mess of pillows. There was heavy gash on his forehead, framed with bruises and ragged flesh. His chapped lips were cracked and bloody, but even through all that, he was still impossibly beautiful. It was those eyes… His eyes were haunting, shocking cerulean sky-colored, bluer than cornflowers, and disturbingly empty like glass marbles.

Roxas averted his eyes, but Namine continued to watch them, her pink lips slightly parted. 

“Namine,” Roxas whispered.

She tensed but finally turned to face him, keeping her eyes respectfully lowered. 

“Come on,” he continued. “Let’s go to the beach and take a walk, okay?”

She nodded lightly and stood up from the table. Roxas led her away, but he couldn’t help lifting his eyes as he brushed past Kairi’s slave. There was something about that boy’s eyes… He felt like they had been watching him all his life… like a brother’s…

…

Kairi sauntered against Riku’s side, smiling her best flirtatious smile, but he brushed her off. Craning his neck, he nodded to the pretty cheerleader behind where Kairi had slung her body across his arm. Finally, he did glance at her, but it was only to ask her to bug off. Since she didn’t move, he turned to growl at his slave.

“Yuna, remove this chick from my face,” Riku snapped.

Yuna staggered to her feet and shooed at Kairi gingerly. Annoyed, Kairi grabbed her fingers and wrenched them cruelly. Yuna dropped to her knees, whimpering in anguish. When Kairi released her, she clutched her fingers to her chest, cradling them like a wounded child. 

Riku didn’t even spare her a glance, grinning at the cheerleader as she pressed her breasts into his arm.

Then, Kairi stormed off, slamming through the doors. Normally, she tried a more suave and subtle tactic, trying to catch Riku’s attention by being cute or smart, but that never worked. So, she thought she’d throw herself fright at him today, let him know she was interested. Apparently, going straight in for the kill didn’t work either. That was probably because every girl in school was interested in Riku. She slammed her way outside and stormed down to the beach. 

There were silhouettes in the distance of two slender blondes, but Kairi ignored them in favor of storming off in the other direction.

“Why?!” She snorted. “Why doesn’t he like me?!”

Kairi slammed herself down in the sand and stared angrily out across the uncaring ocean. The sea just continued to plow away at the beach, dragging up hard-candy-colored shells in all shapes and sizes. The ocean cared nothing for the plights of man. 

Her slave sat a respectful distance beside her in the sand and she cut her eyes to him. Annoyed at the peaceful look on his face as he stared out over the sea, she took her frustration out on him.

Bitterly, she snapped, “What’s your name?”

He was silent. 

“You stupid mute,” she snapped. “A shark should come eat you!” 

Beside her, he began to sift sand through his fingers as if infatuated with the texture.

She glared at him sideways. “Why are you so fascinated by the dirt?”

He spread his hand across the wave as it stretched fingers up around his ankles. His bloodied lips curved in a small smile and he gathered a perfect sand dollar in his palm. Holding it between his fingertips, he gently set it in the sand as near to Kairi as any slave would dare.

She stared at the perfect white disk and then glanced up at her slave.

“You’re stupid,” she snapped.

He nodded lightly and sifted his fingers deep into the sand again. 

That took Kairi aback a little and she stared at him for a moment before whipping her head away from him. “Just happy to be…” she stared up at the sky, at the ocean, at the sand beneath her feet. “You’re just… happy to be outside,” she whispered.

Beside her, he nodded again and sifted several small shells and sand through his fingers. His bare feet were burrowed deep in the sand and his pale skin was beginning to redden from the sun. Some blood had seeped through the shoulders of his shirt. 

Kairi took off her shoes and put her toes in the waves. 

She was going to be cruel to him. She knew this. But for now, he was happy sitting in the sun on the beach and she thought she owed him at least this… this small happiness. 

…

“So, Riku, my man, what’s with that redhead throwing herself at you?” Wakka, orange-haired and strong-jawed with his thick island accent in full blast, slung his arm around Riku’s shoulders. As the Blitzball Team Captain, Wakka was all brawn and practically no brain. This went up to and including anything from fashion sense to emotional capacity. “She’s a fox.”

Riku cut his green eyes to Wakka in half a glare. He and Wakka had been friends for too long for there to ever be any real anger between them. “Wakka, could you be any more of a pig?”

Wakka grinned. “Know what you should do? That winter dance is coming up. You should ask her to it. It’ll be her wet-dream come true, you can fuck her before the dance, and then totally rip her heart out by getting another date for the dance.”

Riku rolled his eyes. “What do I need to fuck the redhead for? I already have my perfect little slut right here.” He slapped Yuna’s ass and she whimpered as bruise formed over bruise. 

“So, wouldn’t you like a little sweet virgin action?”

“How would you know she’s a virgin?”

“Just by looking. She only comes on to you, anyway. Besides, your bitch-girl is a whore. She probably hasn’t been a virgin since she was three.”

Riku glanced at Yuna and gave a sinister smile. “Well, she was a virgin everything when I got her. Mom and Dad only buy the best, but now she’s a nothing. I suppose I could use some fresh pussy. Alright, Wakka, let’s make it a bet.”

“What’s to bet? I know it’ll happen.” Wakka put a hand through his orange hair. “Well, I gotta jet. Talk to you later, man.”

Riku grabbed Yuna by her bruised wrist and dragged her into his dorm. Closing the door, he stared at her as she stripped the clothes from her scrawny frame and then got on her knees to do everything he wanted.

…

Roxas opened his dorm and let Namine in before him. She slipped past him, the soft flowery scent of her shampoo tickling his nose. Inside, she made herself comfortable on her nest of pillows and blankets on the floor. Immediately, she selected a sketch pad, opened to a clean page, and began to draw in many shades of blue. Roxas sat down on his own bed to watch her. Within moments, she had perfectly created the eyes that had set in Kairi’s beautiful slave’s face.

When she turned to a new page and began to sketch out the slave’s entire face, he saw fit to interrupt her.

“Namine, are you happy here?”

She glanced up at him and then back at her paper. “Would you like the truth, Master Roxas?”

He nodded, sliding to his knees to kneel beside her.

“In a way,” she murmured. “I am never hungry and rarely hurting. You do not force yourself on me. I have very little to fear here.”

Roxas touched her nest of blankets and picked an eraser from the folds. “But… Are you happy?”

“I am a slave. I do not deserve to be happy. I am not allowed happiness.”

Roxas stared at her, a knot in his throat. 

“But,” Namine said softly. “As far I as I could ever be, being here it perfect happiness.”

Roxas wasn’t sure if that had lifted his spirits, but he wasn’t sure what he was fishing for in the first place. It had something to do with the fact that hateful Kairi Hart had gotten such a beautiful broken-looking slave, he was sure, but beyond that…

He had a feeling life at school was going to get very confusing and very quickly.

Namine glanced at him, her pale eyes looking right through him to the fading blood-colored sunset. “We should be going before the center closes, yes?”

Startled, Roxas turned to her. “What?”

“We have to look for your brother. It’s Saturday, after all.”

Roxas followed her gaze to the crimson sky. It didn’t look promising, but he stood up. “Yes,” he whispered. “My brother…”

X X X

I couldn’t decide whether I wanted that scene of Riku and Wakka in here. I didn’t really know if I wanted to use that idea. I might wind up with TOO MUCH going on in this story plot-wise, but I put it in anyway so… oh well. I’m sure it’ll all work out. I really had that idea in mind for a different story, but hey, I can use the same little idea twice if I really want, can’t I?

On to finish the last chapter of His Broken Body… Sora and Kairi sex, everybody!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	4. What Are You?

How does one become a slave? I don’t really want to go into that just yet, but it will be coming in future chapters so try to hold on. If you’re really DYING to know, PM me and I’ll tell you. If you can wait, just hold on! It’ll come eventually!

Oh, and for anyone who wants to go nuts, the use of the word “mistress” in this story is not a lover, but the female version of “master.” So, try to keep it in context people! I don’t want anyone being all confused and wondering what’s going on.

X X X

They had been through so many, searching… always searching… Every Saturday night, they went and looked at the new crop of slaves at the center. Searching, searching, searching…

It was Roxas’s obsession: searching for him, always looking for him in the faces of strangers he passed on the street. He would never stop. 

At this point, he wondered if even death would stop him. Or would he wander the earthly plane forever in search of the brother who was cruelly torn from him…

Walking tight at Roxas’s side, Namine peered into each cell of the 16-17 age block. Roxas made sounds in his throat, disgust and horror and sorrow. Namine, having grown up in this filth, was able to wash her eyes over the state of her fellow slaves without a second thought. After all, she had seen worse. 

Folded neatly in Roxas’s left hand was the scrap of paper Namine had drawn his brother on. Using a younger photograph, she had aged his features and marred them with the abuse of slavery. Though it pained Roxas to think of his dear brother in such a state and it hurt him to look at the drawing, it was their best chance at spotting him among the slaves here in the center.

“That one?” Namine whispered, pointing.

“What makes you say that?” Roxas croaked. 

If that poor shriveled young man was his brother, he would murder every slave trader in the country regardless of what it cost him. The youth’s face was heavily scarred, one eye milky and dead, lips split, and nose bashed. His bared skin was mottled with sores and fresh oozing wounds. He had been whipped and his arm was crooked and broken. Blood stained his legs from vicious raping. He looked like death warmed over. No, he looked worse…

“The eyes,” Namine whispered. “Same blue as yours.”

“But… it looks nothing like him…” Roxas protested, unwilling to believe her.

“Slavery can be unspeakably cruel,” was all she said. “Ask.”

Roxas turned to their guide and asked for this slave’s given name. 

“Richard,” Amy said lightly and flipped through his papers. “Richard Long aka Dick Long, Sex Slave.”

Roxas let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and Namine tugged lightly on his arm. Though Roxas wanted his brother back more than anything, he was relieved beyond reason that the young man hadn’t been him. If that had been his beautiful brother, damaged like that… 

“Look,” Namine murmured in his ear, jerking him from his dark thoughts. “Look.”

He didn’t know how she could do it. His beautiful Namine… here, she was the heartless bitch they had made her to be, the statuesque succubus.

Roxas gripped her cold hand tightly and when she turned to look at him, he didn’t meet her eyes. For a moment, her fingers squirmed in his grip, struggling against the impropriety of the situation. But finally, she tightened them around his in a reassuring grip. 

He didn’t know what he would do without her at his side.

…

His new mistress had once again ordered him to bathe. She had also strictly ordered him to adjust the water temperature so that he didn’t burn the flesh off his shoulders again. Safely behind closed doors, he stripped off his sandy clothing and shook them out gently in the trashcan. Then, he took a small opportunity to examine his own face in the mirror. Something he hadn’t seen in anything other than a puddle of murky water or a shined silver plate in almost two years.

He didn’t even recognize himself until he brought bloodied fingers up to touch his face and watched his reflection mimic the movement. 

His face was angular and thin, but soft with something he didn’t dare let show in his eyes. The aching gash on his forehead was angry and red, thick with dried blood, but was clean and infection-free. His chapped lips were light petal-pink and soft new flesh was growing beneath the cuts. Skin, pale as the light of the moon, was framed by thick dark chocolate tresses that stuck to his damp flesh as if melted. As always, his eyes jumped out from his face. Naturally kohl-lined and as blue as the sea and the sky, they were even sharper and more beautiful in his matured face than when they had been in his round baby face. His neck was long and swam-like, scarred heavily beneath the thick iron collar, and his sharp collarbones stretched out to the tips of his shoulders.

He gently traced the path of those bird-bones and then put his hand over his empty stomach. He was so thin. His body felt like folded paper and any moment the rains would come. 

Gingerly, he pulled the bandages from his shoulders and examined the wounds. They were thick and bloody, not the worst he had ever had, but nothing to turn up his nose at. He gently pulled off some dead flesh and dropped it in the trashcan. Fresh pink skin showed at the edges already.

He started the shower and tested the water lightly. For once, he adjusted it to a comfortable temperature. Showers for slaves were never comfortable. It was either freezing cold or scalding hot. Regardless, the water stung his damaged shoulders, but not as bad as it had felt the day before when his flesh peeled away. 

He put a dab of his mistress’s shampoo in his hair and scrubbed it firmly, making sure she would be content with his cleanliness. Then, he scrubbed his chest and thighs with his hands, scouring away the sand and salt from the sea. He traced the long pale gash of a scar that ran down the length of his leg from hip to knee and shuddered. With no time on him, he relished the warm water for a few extra minutes, just tilting his face back in the spray and enjoying himself. Finally, he shut off the water, toweled himself off, and pulled on his soiled clothes again.

He rapped smartly on the door and waited for his mistress to invite him back into her room. Then, he once again stepped into his cruel life.

…

Kairi was sitting at her desk, grumping through her homework. She glared something fierce at her nameless slave when he stepped from the bathroom. Not bleeding, with his shirt clinging to the muscles of his chest and stomach and his dark hair pasted against his cheeks, he looked even more… attractive than usual. She slammed her way through her Chemistry text book and scribbled some hopeless notes on a sheet of paper. 

She didn’t hear his footsteps, but she knew he was coming up behind her. Then, he cautiously sat at her side, folding his legs neatly beneath himself and resting his hands on his knees. Kairi continued to work, but his light breath was distracting.

Finally, she slammed her pencil down and turned to him, putting her foot in his side. “What are you?”

He was silent and she slammed her foot viciously beneath his ribs, knocking him into the floor. He whimpered and clutched at his shoulders, protecting them from her onslaught. 

“What are you, you stupid mute?”

Still, he said nothing, just made small sounds of pain and drew his legs up to his chest.

Kairi stormed to her night table and yanked out the punishment remote. Without a second thought, she slammed her finger down on the S and watched as a wave of electricity washed through his body. He started to scream, but tamped it down to a small moan of anguish. Finally, she released the button and watched him writhe in pain for a few moments before finally managing himself onto his knees. He bent himself in a bow at her feet, fingers inches from her feet. It was tempting to crush those long thin fingers beneath the heel of her shoes, but she decided to save that for later.

“Well?” she snapped. “Speak!”

“I… I’m not sure what you mean, Mistress…” he whispered. For a moment, she didn’t know for sure that such a smooth and beautiful voice could come from the covering form of her nameless beaten slave and stared at his shivering back blankly.

Kairi blinked and pulled her mind back to focus. She needed to hear that sound again. “What are you, slave?”

“Just a… person, Mistress.” His voice was the same, touched with soft innocence and kindness, sweet as tumbling water and soft with subservience.

“A person,” she repeated and paced around him like a predator circling her prey. This creature was all hers, hers to do with whatever she wished, her own… She toed his side and used her foot to raise his trembling chin. 

His azure eyes lifted, but didn’t meet hers. 

“Get up,” she snapped at him and he rose to his feet like a puppet on strings. “Take off your shirt.”

His trembling fingers caught the hem of his shirt, slowly peeled it over his head, and then dropped it in a small pool at his feet. Half-naked, he stood before her with his shaking hands pressed into his scarred abdomen.

Kairi jabbed a finger into a long white scar. “Do you see this thing? You’re worthless, beaten black and scarred all to hell.”

His eyes darkened, no longer sky-colored, but dark like a storm. 

"You're not a person! You're a disease!" She shouted, shoving on his wounded shoulders. The pads of gauze soaked through with dark crimson blood, rolling like tears down his bars arms. His back hit the wall and he crumpled down like a sheet of porcelain-white paper.

Clutching his shoulders protectively, he looked up into her face. The look in his eyes was like that of a wounded animal, a small tremulous cowering kitten. Kairi had her fist raised to strike at his upturned face, but the look in those eyes of his quelled her. 

“You’re… a disease on my life. I never wanted you. I still don’t want you…” she said softly and turned away. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

His voice, as smooth and soft as melted chocolate, came to her as if from a great distance. “I’m sorry, Mistress… but I never wanted this life either…”

Kairi jerked her head to look at him, indigo eyes wide. 

He had gathered his legs against his chest, hands clasped over his shoulders, head bowed into the haven of his folded arms and bent knees. He was shaking ever so slightly, like a beaten child, a kicked puppy, something equally undeserving of punishment. 

Kairi hit her knees where she stood, her back to him, and gazed through the beveled glass of the window at the dark velvet night. 

“I’m so sorry, Mistress,” he whispered. His words chilled her to the core. “I wish… I wasn’t what I am. I’m sorry…”

She crawled to her feet, hands trembling and pulled an extra blanket from the trunk at the foot of her bed. She wasn’t a compassionate person so she tossed the blanket at few feet in front of his feet. “Get some sleep,” she said gruffly and pulled back her own covers. “Tomorrow’s Sunday.”

Suddenly too tired to dress in her pajamas, Kairi slipped into her bed still fully clothed. She listened, holding her breath, to the sounds of her slave drawing the blanket around himself. Only then did she manage to fall asleep.

X X X

I’m hitting over 2,000 words in this story as opposed to my regular 1,000. Has anyone noticed or no one cares how long chapters are so long as they’re a decent length?

Questions, comments, concerns?


	5. Church Conversations

I’m tired and it’s raining and I hate video games. I’ve been trying to beat Fatal Frame 2’s final boss for months and today I watched a video to see how it’s done. It took this person a whole minute to beat the boss that kills me EVERY SINGLE FREAKING TIME I fight him! 

Grrrrr! 

Makes me so mad!

X X X

Unlike Saturday, Sunday dawned disgustingly bleak and dark with looming thunderheads on the horizon. The sea was grey and undulating violently and the strip of white sand looked grey as well. All the color and happiness had been sucked from the world.

Well, almost all of it…

Selphie Tilmitt exploded into Kairi’s room even more golden yellow than usual in comparison to the dreary world outside. “Good morning, my most wonderful person!” Selphie said cheerfully and proceeded to rip the covers from Kairi’s slumbering body. “Up and at ‘em!”

“Selphie,” Kairi groaned and pulled the pillow over her head as a last resort. “It should be a sin to be this cheerful on a Sunday. It’s the last day of weekend. Why don’t you sleep in for once?”

“Because what’s the fun in that?!” She grabbed the pillow from Kairi’s fingers and gave it a toss.

The pillow smacked into Kairi’s nameless slave and he stirred silently, cerulean eyes fluttering open. He clutched the blanket against his chest in his damaged fingers and squinted at the ball of human sunshine that had trounced into the room. 

Kairi sat up. Her hair was a mess, fluffed out in several directions from her skull. 

“Gosh, you’re a fright,” Selphie said and put her hands on her narrow hips. “You’d better hurry up or you’re going to be late for church.”

“How late could it be, Selphie? I wanted to sleep another hour.”

“Well, then you’d really be in trouble,” Selphie said matter-of-factly. 

“Huh?” Kairi turned her tired eyes to her clock and found it to be 8:45, fifteen minutes before the nine o’clock mass that Kairi’s mother required her to attend. With a shriek, she leaped to her feet, dashed to her closet, and began jerking out clothing. “God, what am I going to do?!”

“Try: get dressed really fast and wear a nice hat?” Selphie suggested with a shrug. 

“I can’t wear a hat in church!” Kairi yanked her t-shirt over her head and shimmied out of her jeans.

“Um, Kairi, maybe you want to not strip naked in front of…” Selphie glanced at the cowering slave huddled beneath a heavy quilt. 

Kairi glanced at him and found his eyes squeezed tightly closed. “It doesn’t matter. He knows better than to look,” she told Selphie. She rolled her shoulders into a pale violet blouse embroidered with silver flowers and jerked a deep black velvet skirt over her hips. 

Selphie held out some black heels to complete the ensemble. “Better hurry,” she said.

“I know, I know. You,” she pointed at her slave, “let’s go!”

He scrambled to his feet, blanket spilling from his shoulders, and hurried after her. Seconds after the door closed, Kairi shouted at him to put his shirt on, and then the left for the church. 

A light mist had begun to fall outside. 

Selphie and Kairi put up their umbrellas while her slave shivered in the damp chill. Selphie sidled up to him, sheltering him with her umbrella. Gratefully, he walked as close to her as he dared and she seemed not to care. Kairi turned to glower at them, but didn’t say anything.

“So, what’s your name?” Selphie asked lightly, twirling her fingers through her short brown tresses. 

He lowered his face, silent as the grave.

Selphie stared hard at Kairi’s back.

“He doesn’t have one,” Kairi snapped bitterly. 

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“He doesn’t have one. He’s a nameless worthless mute. He doesn’t deserve a name.”

“So… what are you going to call him?”

Kairi turned to glower at Selphie. “Do I have to call him something?”

“Well, you can’t just call him Hey You,” Selphie said flatly. 

“Why not?”

“Because that might get a little confusing…”

“Fine, to make life simple, I’ll call him Yuu,” Kairi grumbled. 

Selphie glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “I… guess that works…”

“Well, Yuu,” Kairi snapped at her slave. “You sit out here on the veranda until church is over. Got it?”

He nodded, cerulean eyes downcast, and walked over the throng of slaves huddling on the veranda. There, he perched on the deserted edge of the bench, drew up his knees, and buried his face in his bent legs. His fine chocolate locks were starred with moisture. He looked frail and crystalline, beautiful even.

Kairi pushed open the door to the church, ignoring him though Selphie stared back almost longingly. 

“He’s pretty. Why do you hate him to much?” she asked.

“I hate slaves,” Kairi said as she genuflected. 

Behind her, Selphie asked, “But isn’t calling him Yuu a little mean?” 

“You care so much, then you can have him,” Kairi snapped.

“Really?” Selphie sounded incredibly excited by the thought.

“If it wasn’t for the fact that my mom ordered me to get a slave, I would definitely give him to you.”

“Oh.”

They sat down and waited patiently for mass to begin. 

…

Outside on the slave veranda, Yuna sat down beside Yuu. She fidgeted and squirmed as if she had ants in her pants, twisting her fingers cruelly. There was a fresh bruise on her face and her lip was split and swollen. Surely there were even more bruises beneath her clothes and on her insides. Riku Shark radiated cruelty so potent that it was staggering. The ground beneath his feet should have withered and died at the contact with him. Only after he ducked into the church did Yuna sniffle and begin to cry.

Yuna was a pretty young woman, not glowing with the strange beauty Yuu possessed, but moderately attractive. She had soft brown hair cut raggedly at shoulder-length and her iron collar had several charms dangling off it like a dog’s collar. She had heterochromia eyes, one blue and one green though both were dark with servitude and self-loathing. Her body was hauntingly thin, starved. She was even thinner than Yuu and he had no pounds to spare on his frame yet she still possessed curvature and full pressing breasts. Today even though it was cold, she was wearing a pleated miniskirt and a top that bared most of her midriff to the lower swells of her breasts. 

Yuu glanced over at her, allowing his eyes to touch her face. “Are you alright?”

Yuna started as if struck and shivered. “You shouldn’t talk to me,” she whispered. “I’m… scum.”

“I’m a disease,” he whispered. 

Her head snapped up, surely expecting to see a face riddled and pocked with sores and pustules. Instead, she met the beautiful sky-colored eyes of an equally stunning young man. “You… you’re not diseased,” she murmured.

He was silent. 

Yuna squirmed some more, writhing as if in pain.

“Why are you doing that?” Yuu whispered. 

She was quiet for a long time and then whispered, “My master… he put a fake cock inside me. So that I’ll be soft and wet for him when he gets out of church.”

Yuu shivered. “That’s awful…”

She nodded, lowering her face. Her eyes welled with tears that slowly ran down her face and dripped off her chin onto her lap. “What’s your name?” she whispered.

Yuu almost wanted to tell her his true name, just because she looked like she needed some truth in her life, but it was sacred and precious to him. He would never give it to anyone unless he deeply and truly wanted them to know. “Yuu,” he told her softly.

“Yuu,” she repeated with slight doubt in her voice. “I’m Yuna.”

“Pretty name,” he offered, but she said nothing else to him, just continued to squirm and writhe from the forced pleasure inside her. If they had both been human, he may have offered her some comfort… a hand on her shoulder, a gentle hug, something… But they were slaves. He wouldn’t dare touch her and she would never allow him to. So, out in the chilly drizzle, they sat together but alone.

…

Kairi always felt like falling asleep during church. The preacher had a droning voice that lulled her and everyone else to sleep. Only the hardcore churchgoers and Selphie managed to stay awake through his sermons, but afterwards Kairi always felt exhilarated. She was just as bouncy as Selphie as they left the church.

Riku and Wakka sidled up to them and Wakka cleverly detached Selphie with some bogus story in less than thirty seconds, leaving Riku and Kairi alone. 

“Um, hey, Riku,” Kairi said. She was suddenly shy, blushing cutely. 

“The Winter Dance is coming up just this weekend and somehow I find myself in need of a date. If I beg you, will you be my date?” He flashed her a sparkling smile.

Kairi’s mouth ran dry. “You don’t even have to beg me. I’d love to be your date!”

“Really? That’s great! You’ve lifted such a weight from my shoulders! Let me thank you. Can I take you out to dinner?” His aquamarine eyes brightened. 

“Dinner?” Kairi repeated, stuttering. 

“Unless, of course, you’re busy…” Riku managed to look crestfallen. 

“No, no, no! I’m definitely available. So, tonight?”

“If that works for you. I’ll swing by your dorm at, say seven?”

“That’s perfect!” 

“So, I’ll see you then,” Riku said and trotted off to where Selphie had pinned Wakka beneath her rays of false sunlight. He carefully peeled off his friend, waved to poor beaten starving Yuna, and they scuttled away. 

Selphie trotted back over to Kairi. “So, what was that about?”

Kairi and Selphie had been competing over Riku for years and she wasn’t ready to share her victory. “Oh, nothing,” she said with a smile.

“Okay, then,” Selphie said. She was so sweet and trusting that it almost hurt Kairi to lie to her. Almost…

She shouted for Yuu and they hustle doff to her dorm. She planned to spend the rest of the afternoon getting dolled up for her date with Riku. Date with Riku… those were three words she had never thought she would hear together with her name in front of them. 

…

Kairi admired herself in her full length mirror, fluffing her cranberry tresses with her hands. She had loosely curled her hair into decadent falling waves like melted chocolate wisps. She had painted her lips and made her lids smoky with blues and purples to complement her indigo eyes. Her long silver earrings caught the light as she moved, flashing light on the walls. As her outfit, she had chosen a pair of hip-hugging dark jeans and no belt, just in case Riku tried any moves on her. And a scoop-necked indigo sweater with bright silver embroidery around the neck. The sweater laced up from waist to cleavage with silver ribbon and tied in a neat bow between her breasts. On her feet, she wore her black pumps.

“I look banging,” she said to herself. 

Yuu was sitting on the floor next to her bed, gently pressing at his shoulders. He had the quilt wrapped tightly around himself like a shelter and his blue eyes downcast. For a moment, she almost pitied him, but her own joy at her date quickly squashed that. 

There was a knock on her door and she jumped out of her skin. When she opened it though, it was only one of the kitchen slaves with a tray of food she had asked someone to bring up for her. Since she was going out to dinner and wouldn’t be eating at school, she wanted to be sure Yuu ate something. No matter how much she hated him, she couldn’t bear to see anyone starving like poor skeletal Yuna. She placed the tray in front of him and toed it.

“Put the dishes outside when you’re done,” she said and grabbed her purse from her dresser. Giving her hair one last fluff, she opened the door, planning to wait outside her door for Riku, but Yuu’s soft voice stopped her. 

“Thank you, Mistress,” he whispered and there was true gratitude in his voice.

For the food, she realized after a moment. A sick cold feeling welled up in her gut. He was thanking her for… feeding him, for not making him starve… She slammed the door shut, trying to ignore how he got to her so easily. 

It felt like forever before Riku appeared at the mouth of the hall. The sight of him took her breath away. He was wearing tailored black slacks, a green shirt, and a perfectly fitted black jacket. His silver hair was shining like precious metal and hung to frame his face, cutely hiding his eyes. In his hand, he had a bouquet of pink roses. 

“Hi Kairi. Were you waiting long?”

She shook her head, smiling at him. “No,” she told him. “I was just too excited to wait.”

Riku returned her grin and passed her the flowers. “These are for you.”

She made a great show of pressing them to her face and inhaling their sweet scent. “They’re beautiful.”

“I’m glad you like them. Now, shall we go?” He offered her his arm and she slipped her hand though the crook of his elbow. He was warm and polite, everything she wanted. This was going to be the best night of her life. 

She would make sure of it.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?

Thoughts of how Kairi’s date is going to go?


	6. Dream Date

Oh, a simple request. I know everyone knows (or thinks they know) who Roxas’s brother is, but please… pretend you don’t. Pretend you have no idea if Sora even exists!

X X X

The restaurant was a steamy tofu-scented Korean place called Tanuki squished low and sad between two immaculately lit office skyscrapers. The open-beamed ceiling was hung with cream-colored paper lanterns and streamers. The booths were comfortable, padded with plush cushions of every size, shape, and color. The tables were painted with murals of koi fish and tall white storks, divided from other booths by smoky paper partition screens. Soft music, all flutes and trickling water and wind bells, played in the background. The waitresses and lone waiter wore traditional silk gowns or slacks and frog-button shirts. 

“Wow,” Kairi breathed.

“You like it? It’s not very romantic, but they have great food,” Riku explained. 

Kairi hung on his arm. “It’s perfect,” she cooed. 

Riku gestured to one of the waitresses, a beautiful woman in a pearly silk gown, and she led them to an almost secretive rear booth. She handed them menus embossed in gold and decorated with full blooming lotus flowers. Kairi glanced through the menu, unable to make heads or tails of the strange names. 

“So, Riku, what’s good here?” she asked finally.

Riku smiled at her. “Everything, but would you like me to order for you?”

Kairi blushed and nodded, sliding her menu across the table towards him. 

He waved for the waitress and smiled winningly at her. “Could we have a pot of jasmine green tea and ice water?”

She nodded and pulled a notebook from her wide sleeve and jotted down the tea. “Your meal?”

Riku glanced at Kairi. “Some miso soup to start. Bibimbap, yakisoba, and fried vegetables,” he ordered. 

She nodded her head, bowed traditionally, and walked away with a swish of silk skirts. 

Riku turned his attention back to Kairi and slid his hand across the table to touch hers. His skin was surprisingly rough, callused, and his fingertips were cold. Kairi timidly gripped his hand with her free one and smiled at him. A lock of red hair tickled the curve of her cheek and she smiled at her dream guy. 

“How long have you been coming here?” Kairi asked when the tension grew unbearable. 

“Since I started going to Kingdom,” he said. “I grew up on this kind of food and it’s nice to have Tanuki so close by if I’m ever feeling homesick.”

“That’s nice. So, what’s your family like?”

“As if you don’t know. I’m a Shark. We’re rich and my parents are a power couple. I don’t have siblings or any close family. It’s always been just me.”

“Sounds lonely.”

“Nah. I kind of like the attention.”

Sure, Riku was a little shallow, but he was hot, rich, and wanted. What else mattered?

“I come from a big family,” Kairi told him, brushing her fingers lightly across the backs of his knuckles. “I have a lot of extended family.”

The waitress brought tea in a steaming blue pot painted with dragons, two short cups with the same design, and a jar of honey with a small decorative spoon. She poured the first round for them, bowed again, and walked away. Riku pulled his hand from Kairi and wrapped them around his mug. Kairi lifted hers to her lips and sipped it delicately. The steam swirled in front of her face, tickling her nose with the sweet scent of jasmine and honey. 

Riku just sat across from her, looking gorgeous and didn’t say much. Kairi occupied herself just staring at him and fluffing up her cleavage when he smiled at the waitress.

…

Back in Kairi’s dorm, Yuu had made himself comfortable on her plush window seat for a while. The sky was like blue velvet speckled with diamonds. A few wispy clouds hung in front of the moon and the scene reflected on the glassy ocean. The night was beautiful and calm, peaceful, and Yuu was safely alone for the first time in years. With no chance of his mistress returning for at least a few more hours, he chanced opening the window and letting in the salt scent of the sea. Resting his elbows on the sill, he leaned out and inhaled clean breath. 

The night and sea filled his lungs like a lover. 

He thought of his past home… his old hell… and shivered in his beaten husk of a body. 

His old master had been sadistic, beating him within an inch of his life just for the fun of it. He remembered being strung up by his wrists, hanging there while his back and chest were shredded by the bite of the vicious whip. His blood poured, liquid rubies, more precious to him than anything else in his life. His face had never been cut, the “beauty” in it never marred as his master’s wife liked to fuck him. She wouldn’t have her toy ugly. But the rest of his body had been fair game, from his collarbones to the bottoms of his feet. 

And the next day he worked to the bone only to be beaten again. 

It was the never-ending cycle. 

And there had been no light in that dark hell. 

He fingered the scar that bisected his chest along the length of his sternum and then the one that slashed across his chest from shoulder to hip. Then, he traced the contours and muscles, curvature of his hollow ribcage, with his fingertip. 

His beautiful ugly body… 

He knew what he was.

…

Dinner was light, but filling and tasty. Afterwards, Riku took Kairi for a “romantic walk in the park.” 

The air stank of the city, grease and exhaust and humans. It was the kind of horrible struggling place that Kairi hated. On the street, people struck down their slaves, lashed at each other with words, and ignored the world and all its problems. In this place whole families lived in tiny apartments, struggling to survive and work while only the youngest could speak English. Business men cheated on their wives with the street-corner prostitutes in the seedy ratty motels. 

The ocean did not reach here. The stars were blotted out by the petals of neon and glowing skyscrapers. The moon looked pale and waxy, a shade of the creature Kairi saw from her dorm window at night. The trees rattled like skeleton fingers, bones clacking together, in the breeze. 

The city felt… haunted.

Kairi clutched Riku’s hand, now warm in her own and gripping her fingers lightly. He strolled on the path, completely at ease though a homeless man slept on the bench just a few yards from them. He led her deeper into the park until they reached the old playground.

The merry-go-round was a crouching spider, colorful paint worn away. The swings creaked on rusted chains and hinges in the light breeze. A slide loomed in the bright sky, looking like the skeleton remains of a building from a time long past. Other assorted equipment was in an even sorrier state to the point that Kairi couldn’t tell what it was.

This night wasn’t turning out how she planned.

But, maybe she could salvage it yet. 

Riku sat in a creaking swing, bending his knees at a laughable angle since it hung so low. Kairi stood in front of him for a moment and then swung her legs over his knees to perch in his lap. The heat of her crotch seeped through his pants and he put his hands on her lower back. 

“Are you offering?” His voice was predatory, but Kairi wanted this. 

She lifted the hem of her shirt and exposed her breasts. 

Immediately, Riku was on her like a beast. He gripped her breasts with both hands, kneading them and pinching her nipples. His mouth trailed wet and warm against her throat, sucking and nipping at the soft skin. He trailed a burning path between her breasts and then he slipped his fingers through the waistband of her jeans. Kairi added her fingers to the mix, but he batted her hands away. He pushed her down into the coarse playground sand. 

Riku jerked her jeans down, hauling them off her legs, and squirming between her thighs. He was bigger than her and much stronger. She felt small and vulnerable, especially with him pressing against her naked core. Kairi pushed weakly on his broad shoulders, suddenly nervous as he fussed with his fly and zipper. 

“Wait, Riku,” she said.

He looked into her face. “What? Change your mind?” He grinned.

Her face flushed. “No, it’s just… be gentle,” she finished lamely. 

He nodded sharply, released his full erection, rubbed himself through her moist lips, and pushed into her core. Kairi screamed in a mix of pleasure and pain, digging her fingers into his shoulders. The pain was only there for a moment. Then throbbing pleasure coursed through her blood. 

Riku hoisted her leg over his shoulders and plowed deeper into her. Kairi panted and moaned, digging her fingers into the sand. Something hot was coiling inside her belly. Riku’s pace became erratic and wild, losing rhythm. Something told her he was about to go off and she cracked open her indigo eyes to see his reddened face. 

“Don’t cum inside!” she said sharply, gripping his shoulders tightly. 

He opened his eyes and stared at her. Then, he grinned broadly. 

Suddenly, her orgasm wracked her body, tearing a scream of pleasure from her throat. Her muscles clenched down on him and hot juices rushed around his cock. Riku pulled out and sprayed hot white seed all over her naked chest. Panting, he sat back on his haunches and watched semen drip from the tip of his cock. 

“That was… amazing,” Kairi gasped. 

Riku smirked at her. “That’s what they tell me.”

He tossed her jeans to her and zipped himself up. With nothing to wipe his cum off with, Kairi rubbed herself with some sand and then dressed. She smoothed her hair back from her face and brushed some sand from her shirt.

“It’s almost ten. We should be getting back,” Riku said softly.

Kairi gripped his hand, lacing their fingers, and wrapped her arm around his waist. “I had a wonderful night,” she purred.

So did I, Riku thought with and inward smirk to himself. And it’s only going to get better for me and worse for you. Just wait until the Winter Dance…

…

The nightmares woke him constantly, hourly sometimes. 

Roxas lurched upright in his bed, panting and sweat-soaked. On her mat on the floor, Namine slept like a small child, curled neatly in on herself with her sketchpad clutched against her chest. It was open, showing a half-finished drawing of someone who looked suspiciously like him sleeping. (He knew he drooled in his sleep though she had been kind enough not to add that.) Roxas rubbed his face in his hands, pulled back the covers, and got out of bed. He tip-toed so as not to disturb Namine. 

He didn’t turn the light on in the bathroom until the door was tightly closed. He didn’t want the light to wake Namine. It was bad enough that he usually woke her by crying in the night, but for once she had slept through his terrors. She deserved whatever sleep she could get.

Roxas washed his face with cold water and then stared at himself in the mirror. His eyes looked haunted, darkened…

He felt dead inside. His flesh was just the make-up, the mask, of a rotting corpse. He was a cadaver laid out in a beautiful silk coffin, surrounded by the memories of his brother. 

His beautiful older brother…

He had been sold off when Roxas was just a kid, five years old. 

His last memory of his brother, the image burned forever in his fragile young mind, was of the iron chains being clapped around his neck and wrists. His brother’s soft musician’s hands had bled freely, droplets pattering on their mother’s cream-colored carpet like wine-rain. Then, in the threshold of the doorway, for a moment he had fought the people dragging him away. He had looked back over his shoulder at Roxas, beautiful sky-colored eyes shining like jewels. He didn’t say anything, just looked back, and then the door slammed between them.

Roxas had been trapped in his mother’s arms, reaching out desperately for the older brother he loved.

He remembered his mother’s tears wet and warm on his back and his father’s stone-cold stoicism. He mostly remembered his brother looking back, looking back, and those eyes of his glowing like a beacon in the dark. He remembered crippling pain in his chest, like his heart was rending in two.

Then, with his aged mind, his memory was flooded with rage at his parents. 

His brother had loved and trusted them. They were his parents. They were supposed to love and take care of him, protect him. No matter how bad it had become, no matter how badly they had needed the money, they never should have sold him like a used object. 

Roxas would always hate them for that.

He scrubbed his face with more cold water and then slumped down to rest his forehead on the cool vanity, gripping the edge with his cold hands. He was tired… tired of hating his parents, tired of missing his brother, tired of searching… 

Warm hands touched his back and Namine’s soft voice reached his ears. “You should sleep in bed. The bathroom floor is cold and you will wake up stiff in the morning.”

Roxas laughed dryly. “You sound like you speak from experience,” he said without thinking.

Namine’s eyes were crisp and hurt in the mirror. “I do,” was all she said. Then, she gently helped him to his feet and led him to his bed. Once she was content that he was lying down comfortably, she settled back in her own bed. 

“I’m sorry I woke you,” Roxas whispered at the dark ceiling. 

“It is alright.”

Cool moonlight fell across Namine’s body. She looked like an angel, fallen, having crashed painfully to earth and broken her wings in the descent. Her pale hair was spread across her quilt and her skin glowed like cream in the moonlight. For a long while, they both lay awake, breathing quietly.

Roxas wasn’t sure when exactly he fell asleep. But he dreamed of his brother’s young face looking back from the threshold of their home, all sadness and love and fear, and when his eyes snapped open, sunlight was already streaming through the windows.

X X X

I forgot who asked me, but that is most of the story of how Roxas’s brother became a slave. His parents needed the money and sold their son. Depressing, no?

Questions, comments, concerns?


	7. What Rape Feels Like

Sorry it’s been so long since I updated, but I’ve had so much crap going on. And on top of all the crap, our computer got a “deep virus” and was trapped at the computer doctor for about a week. But, now I got it back and I’m ready to work!

This is a long chapter. 

Next time, there won’t be so much detail on her classes, but as this is the first time… try to hang in there, everybody!

Okay, on with the show!

X X X

Kairi’s alarm was unbelievably loud, blaring right in her ear. She was sore and not very well rested. She had fallen asleep in her clothes, sticky with Riku’s cum and speckled with sand. Her skin felt gritty, dirty, and dry. The prospect of classes in just an hour was bleak and horrible. She would have liked to just roll over and go back to sleep, but in a boarding school that wasn’t really an option. Groaning, she rolled out of bed, laid herself out on the floor with a loud thump, and staggered to her feet. She stumbled up to her dresser, dragged out some clothes for the day, and stumbled blearily to the bathroom. She soaked beneath the spray until she was wrinkly and soft. She was pulling her shirt down over her midriff when she slipped back into her dorm. 

Her slave, Yuu, was curled like a small puppy against the window seat. The quilt she had given him the day before was snuggled up to his chin, damaged fingers gripping the cotton in his sleep. His features were smooth and relaxed, but his teeth were gently digging into his lip. His eye roved beneath porcelain lids and she wondered for a moment what he could be dreaming about. 

Then, Kairi toed his side. “Hey, Yuu, get up,” she said sharply.

He silently opened his eyes, laid them on her, and bolted upright. “Mistress,” he whispered, sounding as if the word flew from his lips in panic and fear. “I'm sorry!”

She narrowed her indigo eyes. “What did you do?”

His cerulean orbs rolled wildly at the window, but it was tightly shut. He glanced at the floor and found himself securely on it. As far as he could see, he hadn’t done anything worthy of punishment… yet. Desperately, he glanced up at her and then fisted his hands in the quilt. “I am so sorry for… existing,” he forced out finally and winced.

Kairi raised her brow, but she was in a good mood from sexing up Riku the night before and decided to let Yuu’s strange behavior slide. “Come on. It’s a school day. I need breakfast before class,” she said and turned away from him. 

Yuu got to his feet and followed silently after her, glancing back to make sure he had left her dorm in order and no sign of the previous night’s activities–window opening, basking in the scent of the sea, or eating–had been left behind. Nothing showed so far as he could see, but he didn’t feel safe. 

So far, his new mistress had been volatile and strange. Right now, she seemed happy, but maybe it was only at the prospect of beating him within an inch of his life. 

Yuu shuddered. 

Kairi pushed open the cafeteria doors, winked at Riku as she passed him, and grabbed a tray. She loaded up two plates with pancakes, sausage, fresh fruit, and cinnamon buns. Then, she hesitated a moment before going to Riku’s table and sliding in next to him. Yuna was kneeling behind him, staring at her clenched hands and fidgeting slightly. Yuu knelt behind Kairi as well, sky-blue eyes darting wildly.

“Hey, Riku,” Kairi said with a small giggle and absently passed a warm plate of food into her slave’s hands. 

Riku’s grass-green eyes followed the plate and he deliberately chewed a bite of sausage before saying curtly, “Um, why are you feeding your slave?”

Kairi felt her eyes widen. She glanced at Yuu, then at Riku, and finally lowered her eyes to her plate. “Well, you certainly have to feed yours at some point,” she murmured by way of explanation. Her fingers tightened around her fork. 

Riku glanced at Yuna and she winced. “Yeah, but not when I’m eating. She doesn’t deserve that. Do you treat your slave like a person?”

Kairi glanced at Yuu. His face was pale and his hands were shaking. He had the plate in his lap, untouched, clenched in his trembling fingers. She couldn’t see his beautiful eyes because his chocolate locks hung in his face, shadowing his features like those of the Reaper lurking with death on his back. 

“I don’t,” she said flatly, “But even animals deserve to eat.”

Riku’s eyes darkened and narrowed. “Well, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t feed your worthless animal at my table where I have to watch it,” he said bitterly.

Kairi wanted to glare at him. As much as she hated slaves, she did believe that they deserved food and water even if she took him back to her dorm and skinned the flesh from his back. But… she had wanted Riku forever and now she had him. She couldn’t let something as stupid as a slave get in the way of that. She half-turned in her seat, extended her hand for the plate, and Yuu slipped it into her fingers without a fight. She felt like she would break the plate in her cold hand, shards biting into her flesh and spilling hot blood, but it remained whole and she set it on the table beside her own.

“Thank you,” Riku had the nerve to say. 

Kairi stabbed her fork into a link of sausage and bit into it angrily. Riku slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close against his side. He put his lips against the shell of her ear and purred some of the things he would like to do to her later. She shivered, goose bumps prickling on her flesh, sliding out of her skin with excitement. She snuggled against him, gazing up into his face and smiling glowingly. After a moment, he turned his attention away from her and Kairi was suddenly very aware of her starving slave behind her… but there was nothing she could do.

…

Classes began promptly after the second bell, none of that running in ten seconds late stuff that normal high schools had. Kairi had a full schedule: Honors Spanish II, Advanced Drawing and Painting, Honors Chemistry, blessed Lunch, Honors Algebra II, Study Hall, and finally Gym. No slacking or she would fall behind in everything. Her mother insisted she take advanced and honors courses, along with getting a slave to tend the things she couldn’t.

First period, Kairi slid into her desk and shuffled some books and papers around. Beside her, Yuu knelt. He looked weak and papery, like he would crumple under the slightest touch. She vowed to find a way to get him something to eat at lunch, no matter what. 

In front of her, a handsome young blonde named Roxas slipped into his seat. He looked washed out and sick, dark circles beneath his baby-blue eyes. His skin was papery and thin, silver-blue veins running beneath silver-white skin and speckled with fine golden hairs. His slave, an equally frail and pale blonde, knelt at his side. She fetched a sketchpad from somewhere and began to draw. Kairi had a few classes with him, but she never paid him much attention. She didn’t really know what made her notice him this morning. 

Kairi watched the teacher slouch into the room and begin to scrawl notes on the board. Mister Martin was a boring middle-aged man who reminded her of the forty-year-old-virgin. On occasion, she thought he was afraid of his students. He mumbled something in Spanish, a few kids complained, and he quickly began to speak in English. He probably still lived with his mother.

Rolling her eyes, she cut a glance at Yuu, but he was like a cold statue just sitting there. 

Her next class was far more exciting: Art! Miss Winchenbach, aka Ms W for short, was a slender young woman who often wore jeans and t-shirts rather than slacks and blouses. She was bouncy and joyous with tumbling locks of chestnut hair. Her slave was an elderly woman with gnarled thick fingers. She assisted in pounding the air from clay and stretching canvases across boards. As far as Kairi could tell, Ms W treated her slave like she would a person: gently and kindly with the same soft encouraging words she used on her students. Some people didn’t like that about her, but Kairi found Ms W so likeable that she didn’t even mind the hateful slave’s presence. 

“Today, everybody, let’s wing it! Get out anything you want! Any sized paper, any medium, anything! Let’s see what’s going on in those heads!” She waved her arms around, grinning from ear to ear. “Come on, chop chop! Get it on, people!”

Kairi gathered some watercolors, a big sheet of paper, and spread them across her table. Ms W had small stools for the slaves and Yuu was perched beside her, silent and pale. Across her table, Roxas was spreading out some slip and clay. At his side, his pale ice blonde was bent over her sketchpad, drawing as if her life depended on it. Ms W spent a moment whispering to the frail slave, earning a small smile and a few nods. 

Turning her attention to the blank page, she chose deep purple and began to paint. The watercolor spilled across the page, becoming everything she ever wanted. The brush was an extension of her hand, creating her world. The paint spread like milk across a smooth marble table, like the painted sunset across the creamy sky, like silver fish in murky water… 

Before she knew what had happened, Ms W was leaning over her shoulder with a sigh of awe. “Wow, Kairi, it’s beautiful.” 

Kairi blinked as if waking from a long sleep and really looked at her picture. She had painted her window seat, all filled with its plush cushions. The window was open, white sheer curtains billowing on the sea breeze, and beyond them was the endless diamond star-speckled sky. Curled like a small beaten animal, snarled in her knotted quilt, she had painted in her slave. Unlike the countenance he bore now, his face was spattered with bruises, lip split and dripping blood. Crimson ran down his arm, dripping from his finger tips, and written in the blood on the floor like a pool were the words _I’m sorry._

“Should I read into this?” Ms W asked.

Kairi shook her head. “I just zoned out. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately.” Surprisingly, the brush Kairi was holding in her fingers snapped clean in half. They both stared at the pieces and Ms W finally cleared her throat and walked away. Kairi didn’t miss the tender nervous way she ghosted her long paint-stained fingers across the back of Yuu’s neck. He shuddered but lifted his eyes to follow her path. Kairi realized that Ms W feared that she would enact what she had painted… her beautiful-ugly slave dripping blood. 

Annoyed, Kairi slammed her supplies away and stared impatiently at the clock for the rest of the period.

…

Roxas finally tore his eyes away from the sad soft profile of Kairi’s slave where he was sitting across the table from him and turned his attention to Namine. She had sketched out the beginning of a tree with massive thick branches teeming with life. Beneath the tree stood a woman who looked like she was made from the boiling mists, all white and light and water. On the other side of the trunk stood a man who was all darkness and shadows and fire, his face haunting in fire lit lights and darks. The top branches of the tree were wreathed in flame, destroying the life there while fingers of mist threaded through the lower branches, shielding the creatures there.

“That’s beautiful, Namine,” Roxas whispered, ducking his head close to her. 

She offered a brittle smile and darkened the trunk of the tree. “I am glad you like it, Master Roxas,” she said softly. “Ms W likes it too.”

Roxas smiled and glanced back at the scribbled on his canvas. 

He hated this class. 

Roxas had no artistic talent whatsoever. He couldn’t draw a box, a triangle, a cupcake, a toad, the ocean, a person… He couldn’t draw anything. He had enrolled in this class for Namine. Ms W had a kindness towards slaves and was always eager to see Nadine’s latest project or help her out with something. Roxas loved seeing Namine blushing shyly and discretely showing Ms W her artwork, beaming at the praise she always received. So, for his beautiful Namine, Roxas took art classes each semester and failed them miserably.   
His eyes were drawn back to Kairi’s slave and lingered there until the bell rang, startling him.

…

Chemistry dragged on in a single never-ending blur of notes and examples and the Periodic Table of Elements. The teacher was small and round and pleasant. The classroom was divided neatly down the center into the students that listened to her and struggled to get A's and the students that sat on the other side of the room and listened to a brilliant young woman named Xion and got A-pluses. As Xion was a little excitable and treated everyone, slaves and humans, equally, Kairi made it a point to ignore her and sat on the struggling side of the room. 

Mrs. Steed once again stopped to interrupt Xion, who was leaning over the girl in front of her and explaining the examples in her too-loud voice. Grinning broadly, Xion ducked back into her seat for all of ten seconds before leaning over the arm of the boy next to her to explain it to him. Mrs. Steed chose to ignore her this time as the class was running to a close, but Kairi found it hard to concentrate.

“No, like this,” Xion giggled and furiously began to whisper. 

Now, Mrs. Steed saw fit to interrupt her this time as her voice raised a few more octaves. “Xion, could you please be quiet until the end of class?”

Giggling and smiling, Xion tipped her head into one of the novels she was forever reading and the class was successfully quiet and Mrs. Steed resumed her lesson. Kairi was ready to pull her hair out by the time the bell rang for lunch.

Exhausted, she dragged herself into the cafeteria, fetched a sandwich without thinking, and slipped in beside Riku. He put his arm around her shoulders, smiling meanly, but Kairi failed to notice. She was too captivated by the flecks of gold in his eyes. 

“So, babe, how’s your day going?” Riku asked.

“Ugh, that chick Xion disrupted my last class every two seconds,” Kairi groaned. She had Gym with Xion, too, not that she paid the other girl any attention. 

“Do you want me to have someone talk to her?” Riku tipped his head at his big burly orange-haired friend, Wakka, and Kairi cringed. 

“I don’t want her killed, just quieted,” she explained. 

Riku bit into his grilled cheese viciously, cheese oozing from the sides of the bread. Then he turned his attention o a conversation with Wakka, ignoring Kairi. Not that she minded, she just liked to look at him and think about how he had felt inside her the night before. She wondered when she would get to have him again and giggled, blushing. 

Then, lunch was over and Kairi shuffled off to her next class. 

It was then that she realized she had once again neglected to feed Yuu. She glanced at him and he looked paler and weaker, with dark green-black circles beneath his blue eyes and his skin was becoming sandy grey in color. 

She felt bad…

But not bad enough to slip him something and ruin her chances with Riku…

Algebra was just as long and miserable as Chemistry, though it went faster without Xion interrupting every two seconds. The teacher was a nutcase who gave them all way to much homework. Some students hated him, others loved him just because. Kairi would never understand why.

In study hall, Kairi scored herself a big comfy chair in the library and dug into her Algebra homework. Yuu knelt in front of her, back to her, in order to stay out of the line of traffic. His shoulder brushed her leg and he quickly jolted away, wincing. Kairi glanced at him, chewed her lip, and chose to ignore him. She promised him a big dinner tonight in her mind and then dipped her head back into her textbook. 

Her last class of the day was Gym. Sometimes it was refreshing to just blow off some steam or gawk at the boys as they peeled off sweat-soaked jerseys. Other times, she was exhausted and hated the class. Today her reaction was one of the former rather than the latter. She left Yuu with all the other slaves outside the Gym and ducked into the locker room to change.

… 

Yuna crouched beside Yuu and he could hear her stomach growling. Cold sweat ran down the side of his face and dripped in his eyes, but it seemed like too much effort to lift his arm and brush it away. He took a deep shuddering breath and glanced from the corners of his eyes to look at her. 

“You don’t look to good,” she whispered.

He was silent, not ignoring her. What she had said just didn’t have an answer. Yuna sat down beside him and leaned back against the wall. She, too, was silent and when he glanced over at her, he saw that her eyes were closed. He allowed his own eyes to slide closed, wrapped his arms around his concave stomach, and dozed lightly.

Yuu wasn’t sure exactly how much time had passed since he nodded off, but he was awakened by Yuna’s small cry of fear and pain. His eyes eased silently open, taking in his surroundings. Beside him, two young men, and one young woman who was simply looking on, had Yuna off her feet and pinned against the wall. Her skirt had been pushed up, baring plain white panties, and her shirt was tucked into her bra. Her fingers gripped uselessly at the face of the brick, desperation shining in her mismatched eyes.

Yuna’s eyes met his. “Please,” she whispered. “Help me…”

The fear in her eyes was so strong that it crippled something in his chest and he couldn’t not help her. 

It would be one of the stupidest things he had ever done in his miserable life.

Yuu rose first to his knees and then to his full height. His voice was like molten chocolate, smooth and soft, but cutting when he wanted it to be. Now, he dredged up the cruelty in himself and snarled, “Put her down.”

The leader of the trio, a stringy muscular blonde with piercing eyes, turned to him. “What was that, trash?” he snarled.

The burly one beside him, gripping Yuna by her shoulders, chuckled. He grabbed Yuna’s crotch and she whimpered. “Hey, Seifer, check it out,” he said with another laugh. Then, he pushed Yuna’s panties aside and a fat purple vibrator slipped from her folds with a wet squelch. It hit the floor, bounced, and spun away. 

“That is pretty funny, Rai,” Seifer agreed, turning his attention away from Yuu. “What’s she doing with her pussy stuffed? Well, bitch, why?”

Yuna’s eyes brimmed with tears and she tried to pull her skirt over her thighs. “My master wants me to be…” she whispered.

The one called Rai pushed a finger into Yuna’s soft heat and her back arched in agony. 

“Please, stop,” she begged. 

The trio laughed, even the young woman standing behind them.

“Put her down. Leave her alone,” Yuu repeated. His voice had an edge of steel in it. 

“Make me, trash,” the blonde called Seifer snapped and crudely added his fingers to the mix of his buddy’s. 

Yuu slammed into Seifer sidelong. He slammed into his friend Rai and they all went down in a heap. The breath was knocked from Yuu’s rattling lungs and he pushed Seifer down with his hands. He thought he had them under control in a Tweedle-dee-Tweedle-dum dog pile, but suddenly cold fingers had him by the back of his t-shirt. The material tore, slithering a rip down his chest to the bottom, and slipped backwards off his shoulders. The young woman fell over backwards with his torn shirt in her hand. Then, Seifer managed a half-pushup and Yuu toppled backwards in a heap, crushing the young woman beneath him.

“Seifer, Rai, get this oaf off of me!” she shrieked. 

The two young men staggered to their feet, grabbed Yuu by his arms, and hauled him off their female friend. She got to her feet lightning fast, puffing angrily, face red.

“Give it to him, Fuu!” Seifer cheered, tightening his grip on Yuu’s arm. 

She cupped his face tenderly and he flinched because he knew something terrible had to be coming after such a light touch. “You prick,” she whispered. “I should break your teeth out of your mouth.” Fuu put her face close to his and gently kissed his lips. 

He whimpered, struggling back from her, but she held him firmly. 

Finally, she pulled back, ran her hands down his bare chest, and gave his genitals a cruel twist. “You could suffer beneath me. I bet you’d love to get fucked.” 

He cried out quietly. She ran her hands back up his body as if to soothe him, caressed his face again, and then reeled back her arm and sucker-punched Yuu in the jaw. His teeth snapped together and his mouth flooded with blood. 

A second blow to the back of his head made stars dance in his vision. They released him and his face crashed into the cold unforgiving marble floor. He wrapped his arms around his chest out of habit, shielding his vulnerable stomach and too-many-times-broken ribs. Blood began to spread from his damaged shoulders. The trio destroyed his body with a barrage of kicks and stomps, powerful grinds with the heels of shoes on his sides and thighs, a heavy boot beneath his chin, then impossible crushing pressure on the side of his face. His bones creaked and he felt as if his face would shatter. 

“WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” The coach’s voice cut through the fighting.

The three bullies looked up into the coach’s face and immediately stepped back. Yuu remained on the floor, wrapped around himself protectively. A foot probed him onto his back and his bleary cerulean eyes gazed up at the ceiling before reaching the assembled crowd. 

The coach, all red-faced and sweaty and surprisingly round, was glaring holes through him. His mistress was standing above him, looking alternately concerned and pissed the fuck off. Behind her, the silver-haired Riku had poor Yuna by her hair, throttling her carelessly. The vibrator had been shoved into her mouth and her eyes brimmed with apologetic tears. Beside the coach was the pale blonde he had seen in a few of Kairi’s classes. Beside her, her master—also a pale frail blonde—stood at her side with his hand tucked in the crook of her elbow. Beyond them, the world was a blur of faces.

Yuu rolled onto his stomach and crawled to his mistress’s feet. He spread himself in an injured bow and whimpered in agony as she brought her foot down on his long fingers, crunching them. 

“Seifer, Fuu, and Rai, get to the principal’s office! Kairi and her slave, get out of here! Now!” The coach snapped at them, pointing a meaty finger down the hallway. Like condemned soldiers, they marched down the hallway.

…

The principal didn’t have much to sort out. Kairi’s slave had beaten up, more like attempted to beat up and gotten his ass kicked by, three human students. He shooed Seifer’s trio from the office and turned to Kairi with his long hands folded. “Well, Ms Hart, I can only sentence a punishment of your choosing to your slave to equal fifty lashing of the whip,” he said plainly.

Yuu winced, gripping his jeans in his fists. His torn shirt was laying across his shoulders, soaking up the blood from his shoulders.

“I understand,” she said and dipped her head respectfully to the principal. 

“Alright then, you may return to class,” he said and turned his attention back to whatever paperwork he had been doing before the five of them tromped into his office. 

Kairi returned to the locker room, changed back into her jeans and t-shirt, and shouldered her books. She was silent, ignoring Yuu, until she reached her dorm. Then, she got them safely into her dorm and went off on him. 

“What were you thinking?!” she screamed at him, tossing her backpack at her desk wildly.

Yuu flinched and immediately dropped into a subservient bow. His bruised and swollen fingers were twisted and gnarled. Blood was running down his shoulders and back. He trembled, shaking like a leaf in a powerful maelstrom. 

“Why would you fight with Seifer’s gang?!” Kairi shouted. She howled in rage at him for a good five minutes and then stopped, panting and gasping. She sank down on her bed and stared at his bowed frame. He was silent, just shivering in fear and probably pain. He was a mess of blood and bruises. “Why would you do that?” she continued. “Now I have to hurt you.”

He made a small sound. “Mistress,” he whispered. “They were hurting Yuna.”

“Hurting Yuna?” she repeated incredulously. 

He nodded. “Yes, I think they were going to… rape her.”

“Seifer’s gang beat on Yuna every day. Riku gave them permission to do whatever they want with her.”

His voice was so quiet that she barely heard him. “That’s wrong…” he whispered.

“Why?”

Yuu glanced up at her and then slammed his eyes back to the floor. “Because she’s… human…” When Kairi didn’t shout at him, he nervously continued, “And I know what it feels like to be broken into like that… It’s the worst thing ever…”

“Broken into? You’ve been raped?” 

He nodded weakly. “It hurts… so much…”

Kairi flopped backwards on her bed and stared at the ceiling for a long moment. Then, she sighed deeply. “I guess I can understand why you did it then, but… I still have to hurt you.”

He whimpered, fingers digging into the carpet. 

“But, you can choose how you want it to be… the whip, one of the collar punishments, something else?”

He slowly raised his head and got slowly to his knees. “Shock me, please, mistress,” he whispered.

Kairi glanced at the remote where it lay on her nightstand. It looked evil and dark and she suddenly didn’t want to hurt him. She thought of him being raped and then of the principal’s hard stone face assigning a punishment to her slave. She snatched up the remote and pressed down firmly on the S button. It was nearly impossible for her to watch her poor slave writhing in quiet anguish in the floor, blood smearing form his damaged shoulders, clutching at his throat. She let up for a moment, listening to him gasping desperately for breath and making small sounds of pain. Then, she had to press the button again and once again watched him agonizing on her floor. Finally, she stopped and he remained a tremulous heap on the floor. 

“When you find you can get up, go shower and I’ll have some dinner brought up,” she murmured.

He was gasping and shaking, but he whispered a soft, “Yes mistress.” For what felt like forever, he lay on the floor before finally getting up and dragging himself to the bathroom. Then, the door closed like a whisper of bird’s wings. 

Kairi buried her face in her pillow and tried to block the onslaught of images flooding her mind. She saw her ugly-beautiful Yuu lying on his back, all pale scarred skin and pinched closed eyes and chapped mouth twisted in a grimace of pain, as someone knelt between his legs and pushed something deep inside his body. She envisioned lips and yellow uneven teeth nipping at his slender white throat, lapping at the gap between his flesh and his collar. She saw him bent over on his hands and knees, being pounded into form behind. 

For some reason, these thoughts sickened her and she felt guilty having to hurt him when he was only protecting Yuna from something that was horrible and cruel. She looked at the punishment remote, was tempted to hurl it across the room, but settled for tucking it into the top drawer of her nightstand. She didn’t want to ever have to use it again.

X X X

Man was this chapter long! 5,000 words!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	8. Yuna

I have a huge 200 point test on my dissection shark on Monday. My notes are about 15 pages thick, back and front, and all the horrible impossible to spell words are fair game. Then, my teacher is going to test us on identifying the shark’s guts. Instant death! Bullet to the brain! So, if I stopped updating, it’s because the test killed me.

Everyone send me good vibes so I hopefully pass!

And one other thing, I TOLD YOU PEOPLE TO PRETEND YOU HAVE NO IDEA THAT SORA EXISTS IN THIS STORY. I know it’s pretty obvious that it’s him, but… pretend you all have no brains and that you have no idea what’s going on!

X X X

Tuesday morning dawned chilly and dreary and damp. The sky was overcast with thick blanket of grey clouds. A light mist hung over the ocean like a writhing snake as the waves stretched out over the grey-white strip of sand. A few gulls screamed like lone wolves, separated from the pack. Kairi woke early, picked carefully over Yuu where he was curled up on the floor, showered, and dressed. Yuu was still lying on the floor, but his eyes were cracked open, glowing in the dim grey dreariness. 

“Get up,” Kairi said softly to Yuu.

Instantly, he sat up and the quilt slipped from his bare shoulders. Kairi suddenly realized that his shirt had been torn yesterday, went to her closet, rummaged around some, and finally pulled out a thick clinging sweater that her mother had given her. 

“Put this on,” she said and tossed it to him.

He held it gingerly, stroking the threads with his fingertips. Quietly, he protested, “Mistress, I can’t…”

“Why not?” she asked, halting at the threshold of her door. 

“This is yours. It’s so nice. I’m not deserving of such a thing,” he whispered. 

Kairi chewed the inside of her mouth. “Well, I need you to wear it. You need a shirt,” she explained. 

He dipped his head, looking nervous and pale, and then pulled the heavy sweater on over his head. He scrambled to his feet, folded the quilt sloppily, and went to stand patiently at her side. Kairi toyed with a lock of her cranberry tresses.

“We’re going down for breakfast,” she told him and saw Yuu glanced at the window from the corner of her eyes. She knew there was only a small sliver of light on the horizon and few other people were stirring, but she had thought this out as she was falling asleep the night before. She would get up early and get some breakfast for Yuu, return to her dorm until breakfast was announced for the students, go down to eat with Riku, and say a few rude things to Yuu to show him that she didn’t think of her slave as anything more than that. “Come on,” she said with a small smile.

Yuu trailed after her, not making a sound. His footsteps were silent, his breath unheard. He was like a ghost, a wraith. 

They stepped into the cafeteria. It was mostly deserted. A few teachers, some early bird students, and a few assorted slaves were either sitting down eating or getting food from the buffet line. Yuu’s stomach growled loudly and he pressed the flat of his palm over his abdomen, looking sick and ashamed.

Kairi picked up a plate, put it in his hands, and said, “Get whatever you want.” Then, she turned and slid into a table, perching her chin on her hands.

Yuu slipped nervously down the line, collecting some of almost everything on his plate, shivering under the glares of one of the cooks. Some people believed slaves were undeserving of food, even wretched moldy morsels. He chanced a glanced at his new mistress, Kairi, and saw the faint smile on her face. She didn’t seem annoyed that he was starving or that she was sacrificing her sleep to waste time feeding him. It seemed that she felt he both deserved and needed food. He knelt behind her, as he was accustomed to, and dug in. 

For a moment he just relished the warm food in his mouth, the slowly sated starvation that always gnawed at his guts. Kairi’s voice startled him and he choked as he swallowed. Unthinking, he lifted his cerulean eyes directly to hers and stared at her for a full ten seconds before realizing what he was doing and averting his gaze. His face burned with shame and his throat tightened up.

“You could sit at the table,” Kairi repeated. “I haven’t laid down tacks on it or anything.”

“Mistress, I… couldn’t…” he whispered and flinched back against his own bones. He was sure she’d hurt him, drive a knife through his cheek, or crunch down on his fingers as she had yesterday. 

But Kairi simply sighed and reclined against her hands. “Have it your way,” she said simply and didn’t say anything else to him. 

Yuu finished the best breakfast of his life in silence, but he couldn’t help feeling like this was his last meal before the execution. This niceness, her soft voice and lack of punishments even when he disagreed with her or protested, couldn’t last forever. This was the calm before the storm and he had a feeling that his body was going to be torn apart in the maelstrom that was to follow.

…

Roxas wasn’t exactly sure what woke him. Then, he heard it. Namine was crying out in her sleep, making small sounds of fear and pain. He put his cold feet on the floor, stood, and knelt beside her. He watched her face, watched her eyes squeeze tightly shut and her lips curve down in a devastated grimace of fear. After a moment, he decided it best to wake her.

“Namine,” he whispered. Her gripped her narrow shoulder and gave her a small shake. “Hey, wake up.”

She jolted upright in her nest of blankets and pillows as if an electrical current had shot through her. Her mouth was open, a scream bottled up in it. She tore away from him as if he wished to hurt her, clutching the blankets to her body. Her eyes were like chips of ice, haunted and cold and revealing nothing.

“Namine, it’s me. It’s Roxas.”

For a moment, that did nothing to soothe her. Then, a light broke in the back of her eyes and she let out a shuddering breath. “Master Roxas,” she whispered. “Did a nightmare wake you?”

He stared at her for a moment, unsure whether or not she remembered her own nightmare, before silently nodding. “Yeah,” he lied.

She smoothed the blankets across her legs and ran her hand through her sweat-slick hair. “Was it about your brother?”

Roxas nodded, dismissing the fear on her face. He hoped that she would talk to him if something was troubling her. “Yeah,” he continued, following the footsteps of the lie Namine had created. “I always dream about him.”

Namine folded her legs alongside her body. “What was it about?”

Roxas blinked. She had never asked him what his nightmares entailed. It was an unspoken line between them. She didn’t tell him in detail what she had been through and he never mentioned what he dreamed about his brother. Since she asked him, he immediately knew that she remembered her nightmare but he didn’t call her on it. Roxas drew in a quiet breath and lifted his blue eyes to her downcast face. 

“Namine,” he began softly and reached for her pale hand.

She denied him, pulling back and clutching the blankets to her chest. “Please don’t,” she whispered. “I do not want comfort.”

Roxas swallowed a lump building up in his throat, turned away from her, and got to his feet. He started to walk away, but her soft voice pleaded to him. 

“Please, what do you dream about your brother?”

Roxas stopped, frozen. He took a deep shuddering breath and did not turn to face her. His hatred for his parents built up in his skull, pounding on the bones like a drum, thrumming deep into his heartbeat. “I see him looking back over his shoulder at me the day he was taken. My big brother, who I always wanted to be and loved with all my heart, he looked so…” Anger swam to the surface, splitting through his skin. “He looked so fucking broken, so afraid. His eyes were windows and there was nothing but fear in them, but what’s really fucked up is that the fear was for…” Roxas broke off, choking on tears that welled in his chest. “The fear was for me. He was afraid that if our parents could sell him, what was to stop them from selling me? I never knew how much he loved me until he was taken away.”

Roxas’s hands clenched into fists to guard against the pain. “After that, I think about what could have happened to him. I mean, he could be fucking dead! Some cruel master could have starved him to death or shattered his bones. So many horrible things could have happened to him, Namine! He could have killed himself just to escape that world…”

He heard the rustle of blankets and Namine came to stand beside him. “If what you say about him, how you describe him, is true,” she glanced up at him with a hurt smile, “he is still alive. Somehow, someway, he’s still alive. He’ll be holding on.”

Roxas glanced at her. “How can you be so sure?” he asked and was startled by how thick and sad his voice was.

Namine smiled softly. “Because I see you, Master Roxas. If he’s anything like you, he won’t give up. He won’t ever give up.”

Roxas dragged a heavy breath into his lungs and stood silently for a while. Namine left his side and dressed quietly before going to brush her teeth and get ready for the day. When she returned to his side, he was feeling stronger and more like himself, more like his brother.

“Ready?” Namine whispered softly and timidly touched his elbow.

Roxas nodded. “Namine, sometimes, I don’t know what I would do without you.”

She didn’t say anything, but he saw her steps falter. As a slave, she had never been needed by anyone before. It was a strange surge of emotion that blossomed beneath her ribs like butterflies. She felt a small smile curving her mouth and didn’t try to squash it. For the first time in her life, she displayed her joy for Roxas and Roxas only. He didn’t say anything, but he loved seeing her that way. But, beneath that small happiness, the thought of his brother lurked like a dark cloud. 

Lightning crackled on the horizon.

…

Riku woke to his alarm blaring, slammed his hand down on it, and put a hand to his face. On the floor, Yuna was curled up shivering in her threadbare t-shirt. She looked like hell, skinny as an Auschwitz survivor, black and green with bruises, stinking and sweaty. He supposed her would have to feed her and clean her up sometimes soon. Heedless of all these thoughts going through his head, at his side, Olette groaned and stirred, rolling over to get more sleep. Her chocolate hair spread across Riku’s pale arm like silk and he reached beneath the covers to cup her bare ass. She made a small squeak of surprise and her eyes darted open. She rolled over to face him and her lips curved in a satisfied smile. 

“Hey,” she purred and pressed her body against his. “Is it time to get up already?”

“Yeah, I can tell this is going to turn out to be a rotten day,” Riku growled and prayed that she took the bait. 

Olette smiled at him, all teeth and full petal-pink lips. “I could make it better for you,” she purred and kissed his chest.

Riku made his eyes big and sparkling. “Would you?”

She giggled and nodded. Then, she ducked her head beneath the covers and shuffled around some. Her hot mouth closed over his hardness and he gasped in pleasure, gripping her head through the sheets and bringing her down on him. She suckled eagerly, making disgusting wet sloppy sounds. 

On the floor, Yuna drew her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. 

Riku took control, rolled over, and pinned Olette beneath him. She gazed up at him, lips moist and parted sensuously. “Fuck me, Riku,” she purred and gripped his shoulders tightly. He was more than happy to oblige. 

Yuna was nice and all, but sometimes she… protested.

Olette was more than willing to do anything he wanted. He got her on her hands and knees, bent over doggy-style, and pushed a finger into her from behind. She moaned and pushed against him eagerly, wet channel sucking at his finger tightly. He grinned and gave her ass a slap. She squeaked in surprised but then moaned and bucked against him. 

“Please, Riku, don’t tease me,” she begged. 

He parted her slick lips and rubbed the head of his cock at her entrance. “How bad to you want me?”

“Badly,” she moaned desperately and tried to push back.

“Beg for me.”

“Please, please, oh gods, Riku please, just fuck me!”

He slammed into her and she moaned in bliss and pain. It was a fine line when Riku was fucking her. He thrived on that border between pleasure and pain, slapping her ass and pinching her nipples and caressing her clit and licking at her neck. He was pure animal and she loved it! He pounded into her, balls slapping against her thighs. He gripped her breasts and made a sound in his throat. Grunting like a hog, he came, spilling all over Olette’s breasts and belly. Then, he sat back and let her slump into a boneless heap.

“Yuna,” he snapped his fingers.

The slave girl winced, got up silently, and knelt beside Olette. The first brush on her tongue on the cum splattered on Olette’s breasts was shocking and a little unnerving, but Yuna was talented. Within a few moments, Olette was enjoying it, moaning and writhing. Yuna reached her pussy, glanced desperately up at her leering master, and then delved in. His cum and her fluids mingled in a disgusting mess and Yuna’s empty stomach heaved. 

“Deeper,” Olette moaned. “Lick me there.”

Yuna had to comply, suckling the other woman’s clitoris and lapping at the never-ending flow of juices. Finally, Riku shoved her aside and slammed his full cock into Olette. She howled in bliss and grabbed at Yuna’s hair. Unable to escape as Olette dragged her face to the places where their sexes met, Yuna began to alternately lick Riku’s dick as he thrust in and out and toy with Olette’s clit. They both came to a shattering release and then dismissed themselves to the shower where they fucked some more. 

Yuna rolled herself up into a disgusted ball and thought of how Kairi Hart’s Yuu had defended her yesterday. He was so kind to her, kinder than she deserved. Maybe… she could find a way to repay him.

…

Yuna didn’t get a chance to see Yuu until their masters were all in Gym. She sat next to him, but he was lost in his own world and didn’t even acknowledge her. He looked better though, healthier and there was a faint dusting of color on his cheeks, but like most slaves he looked nervous.

“Yuu?” she ventured. “Are you alright?”

His eyes snapped to her, but he didn’t say anything. 

“I mean, you got hurt yesterday when you stepped in for me and I wanted to make sure you were okay,” she explained, feeling silly and nervous. “Did your mistress hurt you?”

He nodded and then shook his head. Yuna stared at him, unsure what that meant, but he didn’t elaborate. 

“Yuu?” she ventured again. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

He glanced at her, opened his mouth, and then shook his head. 

“Please, what is it? I want to do something for you in return for helping me.”

“I didn’t help you to make you feel indebted to me.” His voice was soft and sweet like melted chocolate over soft caramel. “I just… couldn’t watch that happen… not again. I couldn’t just sit back. When it had been me, I would’ve wished someone would save me.”

“When it was you…?” Yuna whispered. 

He looked startled. 

“You mean… you too?” She whispered and her eyes filled with tears.

“Many times,” he confessed and lowered his eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” she whispered and gingerly placed her fingertips on his arm. 

His flesh was cool and soft and virtually hairless, like living velvet or satin silk. There were old scars on his wrists and healing cuts on his forearms and bruises all over him. He looked like someone had beaten him within an inch of his life once… or twice… or way more than that. She quickly retracted her hand and fisted it in her lap. 

“I’m sorry,” she said again, but he didn’t say anything, just sat there… staring…

The waves began to claw the shore, tearing rifts into the earth. Thunder rattled the windowpanes and rain began a cold slanting descent. The wind howled through the eaves of the school and lightning flared. A storm was brewing.

X X X

A lot going on in this chapter. All my characters are all over the place. I mean, Riku got laid! I didn’t plan that! And Kairi is doing I-don’t-know-what! And Yuna is developing out of control. She was just supposed to kind of be there and here she’s becoming a major character. And Namine and Roxas are slipping into the background. *sigh* I’m so doomed!

I need to hop, skip, and jump over to the Winter Dance scenes. Nothing is going to get MOVING until we get there, but if I just jump I’m going to lose vital character set-up! Grrrr! Such a dilemma! I hope to hit the Winter Dance by Chapter 10! That should help: a goal! *cue lights and music and such* Okay, okay, I’m a slacker!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	9. Before the Storm

Blah? Not much to say here. 

Should I recommend stories? (I troll the boards pretty regularly, read chapters, review almost everything I read, and then promptly forget which stories I was reading.) Sometimes I come across some wicked ideas, sometimes not… Maybe I will start that. 

**Introducing ParadsieAvenger’s Recommendation Board!**

*dun dun dun*

**Asylum of Love by kh3masterfan.**

(I’d link, but they’re evil to me lately.) It's over on **Fanfiction.net.** Story has a wicked plot/fantastic idea, a little fast paced, but Sora’s character is a real winner!

X X X

Since the day Yuu had gotten in the fight with Seifer, Rai, and Fuu, Kairi hadn’t laid a finger on him. She had taken to getting up earlier than usual, going down to get him some breakfast, returning so her dorm, and going down to breakfast later with Yuu trailing behind her. She could act heartless and cruel and pretend she was starving him and Riku was none the wiser to the way she really treated him. She went out on a date with Riku almost every night, but before she left she always asked for a plate of food to be brought up for Yuu. She hadn’t hurt or punished or even forced herself on him. She was harsh occasionally and just yesterday she had been forced to hit him to prove to Riku that she hated him, but he was alright with that. The bruise on his face hardly ached anymore.

He didn’t hope for much in his life.

Kairi arrived home Thursday night from her date with Riku looking satisfied, flushed, and sticky. She immediately went to shower and came out in soft cotton pajamas bottoms with pretty pink blossoms on them and a pink tank top. Her breasts swelled over the neck and there was a dark hicky on her collarbone.

Yuu averted his eyes, remembering the same marks burning on his own body. 

Kairi flopped down on her bed, spread-eagle, and sighed deeply. “I had the most wonderful night,” she said more to herself than to him. “Riku took me back to his dorm and…” she trailed off, shuddering. “He’s magical!” For a moment, she was silent and then she murmured, “But it was a little strange having Yuna there. She was just lying on the floor with her hands over her ears.”

Yuu shifted the quilt tighter around his shoulders which were just beginning to heal over completely. The skin there was sensitive and sore to the touch, but didn’t bleed freely anymore. He gingerly touched his cheek, wincing at the sharp jolt of pain that went through his skull. 

For what felt like forever, Kairi chatted on and on about how Riku had fucked her… all the positions they had tried, the way he filled her, how he had spanked her and she wasn’t sure if she liked it. Her words only made Yuu think of what Yuna must have gone through and that led him to thinking of the things he had gone through himself. 

The tearing pain, the humiliation, the salty-sour taste, bile burning in the back of his throat, the dirty heat gripping him, how disgusted with himself he always felt afterwards… Sex had never been a pleasant experience for him. Hell, it wasn’t even sex. It was rape.

Yuu took a shuddering breath.

“So you are alive?” Kairi’s voice cut through him and he realized he had been ignoring her. 

His eyes snapped up, fearful and bright. “I’m sorry, mistress,” he whispered.

Kairi rolled onto her side and looked at him for a long moment. Then, plainly, she asked, “What’s your name?”

Since she had tersely decided to call him Yuu, the subject of his name hadn’t come up. He had almost believed that she was going to call him Yuu forever, but nothing could ever be that easy. He bit his healing lip and turned his face away. 

Kairi let out a rush of breath. “Why is something as silly as a name worth being hurt over?” she mumbled at him, stroking the hicky on her throat. 

Yuu’s head snapped up. “It’s not just a name! Not to me! It’s my most precious possession!” The vehemence in his voice was thick and choking and he immediately hated himself for spilling his soul to her. She was his mistress, his owner. He would never tell her his name.

“You’re most precious possession?” Kairi repeated. “Why?”

Gasping for a breath, Yuu murmured, “It’s the only thing I have left that’s mine.”

“You have your body, don’t you? You’ll always have that,” Kairi snapped. 

He shook his head, making a small pained sound in his throat. 

Kairi put her fingers to her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry. I guess you don’t, do you?”

Yuu tightened his arms around himself. “It’s never the same again… after you’ve been taken like that…” He tried to crush the flow of emotion coming from his heart. He wanted to tell someone, anyone, the things that had happened to him and she was just looking at him with those jewel-colored eyes. She wasn’t even judging him. He could feel that. 

Kairi wet her lips, watching the play of emotion on Yuu’s face. Finally, his features smoothed out into the porcelain mask she was so used to seeing with desperate baby-blue eyes locked behind a bar of thick lashes. “What…?” she began but there seemed to be no way to ask what he had been through.

His head snapped up, eyes looking damaged and dark as storm clouds. 

Lightning flashed outside, lighting up Yuu’s distressed features and strange glassy eyes, and the windowpane rattled something awful. Outside, the tree shook its skeletal limbs and the ocean roared like a trapped monster, clawing at the beach. 

Kairi drew her legs against her chest and hugged them, trying to understand the desperate look on his face. “What… is it?” she whispered.

He lowered his eyes and whispered, “I am sorry, Mistress.”

Kairi didn’t understand.

Suddenly, Yuu wrapped himself tightly in the quilt and flopped over sideways curled up in a tight ball. He lay like that, shivering, until Kairi finally got up and turned off the lights. Then, she too got into bed and wondered what it was he had been going to say. 

His name… she wondered what it was. She wondered if it was beautiful.

Then, her thoughts turned shamelessly to how Riku had made love to her and when she woke in the morning her panties her wet and Yuu was huddled safely in the canopy of his arms, staring at his hands as if he saw something there. Kairi showered, dressed, and hustled off to class with the promise of shopping for a Winter Dance dress after school with Selphie dangling teasingly over her head. She didn’t put much more thought into Yuu’s strange behavior or his hidden name. Her head was filled with visions of her fairy tale come to life and she couldn’t wait for the dance Saturday night.

…

Selphie got a running start and leaped onto Kairi. She slammed into Yuu and the three of them went tumbling to the ground. Yuu lay there, not breathing, until Kairi hauled herself and Selphie to their feet. Then, while she was reamed her friend out, Yuu got shakily to his feet. 

“Selphie! What were you thinking? Just attacking me like that?!” Kairi demanded. She rubbed her hands together, trying to banish the sensation of Yuu’s firm chiseled muscles and hard pressing bones beneath her hands. 

“Well, I was thinking it would be fun, but I see now that it wasn’t such a good idea,” she said sheepishly and folded her hands behind her back. “So, Kairi, are you ready to shop?!”

Kairi rolled her eyes. “Of course, Selphie. I just have to drop by my room, drop off Yuu, and grab my purse,” she said.

Selphie’s smile slowly turned into a frown. “You’re still calling him Yuu?”

Kairi rolled her shoulders. “It fits him,” was all she said.

“He’s not coming with us?” Selphie continued.

Kairi glanced at Selphie. “No,” she said shortly.

Selphie did a big sigh and said, “What a shame. It’d be nice to have a man’s perspective on our dresses.”

“He’s not a man, Selphie,” Kairi snapped. “He’s a slave.” 

Selphie cast a hurt look in Kairi’s direction. “Come on, Kairi, he’s the prettiest slave I’ve ever seen. You don’t know what I’d give to get my hands on someone like him.”

Kairi flipped some hair across her shoulders. “Give what, a dollar?”

Selphie opened her mouth, snapped her teeth together with an audible click, and changed the subject. “So, what kind of dress were you thinking?”

Kairi fell into step beside Selphie as they strolled down the hall to her dorm room. Yuu dragged behind them, eyes darting. “Something that complements me,” she purred. “Something sleek and sexy. Something red.” 

“In case someone lands our hottie at the dance?” Selphie asked, all innocence and curious friendship.

You have no idea, Kairi thought to herself but still didn’t tell Selphie that Riku had already asked her to be his date for the Winter Dance. It would ruin Selphie’s outlook on going. “Yeah,” Kairi lied and giggled girlishly. 

The two girls laughed together as Kairi unlocked her door. She grabbed her purse off her dresser where she had placed it the night before and then headed to leave. Yuu had already slipped into what had been silently cordoned off as “his corner” of the room, settling in the twisted quilt. Kairi closed and locked up behind herself and Selphie gaped at her. 

“What?”

“We’re going out to dinner. Isn’t he going to be hungry?”

Kairi glanced at her door. “He’ll be fine.”

“But—”

“Shut up, Selphie. He’s not starving to death. He’ll be fine, now let’s go,” Kairi snapped.

Selphie fell silent, staring at her feet as she walked. As the silence stretched uncomfortably on between them, Kairi began to feel bad for snapping at the younger girl. 

“Listen, Selph,” Kairi said and slung her arm around Selphie’s shoulders. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’ve been stressed about the dance. I mean, what if I can’t find something I like?”

Selphie smiled her winning ball-of-sunshine smile. “I understand and it’s not really my place to say anything about how you treat your slave.”

“It’s not your fault. You’re so sweet Selphie. You worry about everyone, even someone as worthless and infuriating as Yuu.”

“Infuriating?”

Kairi’s cheeks tinged. She didn’t want to tell Selphie that Yuu had a name… he just outright refused to give it to her, to anyone. “Yeah, he’s a real pain.”

“How so?”

Kairi was saved from answering when Xion bolted around the corner. She bowled into them and the three went down in a heap of arms and legs. Xion was all black and white with her sparkling blue eyes standing out vibrantly. Selphie was yellow and gold and green like some kind of summery treasure and Kairi was cranberry tresses and peachy-pink clothing. They were a veritable blur of color.

“Oops,” Xion said and gave them both a hand up.

Kairi smoothed herself out while Selphie laughed out loud. 

“What’s got you in such a rush, Xion?” Selphie asked when her giggles subsided.

Xion ran her fingers through her short blue-black tresses and tilted her head. “I’m on my way to Roxas’s dorm. He said it was important.”

“Roxas? He’s such a sweetheart. Is he your date to the Dance?” Selphie cooed. 

Xion tilted her head in the other direction and toyed absently with the zipper of her black hoodie. “Nah, he’s just a friend.”

“Poo,” Selphie said. 

“So, where are you guys headed?” Xion asked and walked a few paces with them down the hallway. 

“Shopping!” Selphie said cheerfully. 

Kairi looked on with amazement as they carried on a perfect easy conversation. Selphie and Xion were polar opposites yet somehow two peas in a pod. Selphie was all sunshine and bright nail polish and glitter and summery grass-green eyes while Xion was a borderline Goth, all black and white and gleaming wintery blue eyes.

“Wicked. I already got my dress,” Xion said with several flailing arm gestures. 

“Really?” Selphie’s eyes bugged. 

“Yup, two weeks ago at the thrift store. It’s a great vintage,” Xion said.

“What does it look like?”

Xion smiled mischievously. “You’ll just have to wait until the dance to see, like everybody else.”

Selphie pouted. “Unfair!” 

Xion turned sharply on her heel, swishing her dark hair out in a fan. “Well, I’ll catch you later. Gotta run off to Roxas before he gets cranky,” she said and continued on darting off down the hallway. A few seconds later, there was a sound of toppling and commotion and Xion’s clear voice saying, “Oops!” once again. If she just slowed down, she probably could have been to Roxas’s dorm and back by now.

Selphie giggled. “Xion’s such a trip.”

“She’s a trip, alright,” Kairi muttered as they stepped out into the damp chilly air, immediately wishing she had brought a coat. 

…

The pavement was wet and the air was thick with moisture. It had rained earlier, sloshing worms up onto the sidewalks and clogging the gutters with soggy garbage. The city had its own smell, different from the crisp ocean air that always surrounded the boarding school on the cliffs where the air smelled fertile, like flowers could be grown in it after a good rain. The city, on the other hand, smelled overripe, like fruit left out to long, like trash and people, like too much of the same thing in once place. The horizon was still dark and threatening, as if proclaiming what was to come, but for now the weather had stopped at a light but soaking drizzle. 

“Hurry up, Kairi!” Selphie seemed to have made that her mantra. She hadn’t stopped saying it! First it was, Hurry up, Kairi, get out of the rain! Then, Hurry up, Kairi, and pick a dress! Now it was Hurry up, Kairi, and try it on because you’re killing me with the suspense! Later, it would probably be Hurry up, Kairi, and pay so we can go get dinner! And on and on and on…!

“Selphie, if you don’t can it, I swear to God—”

“Please, just hurry up!”

Kairi slicked back the curtain and stepped out for approval, heels tapping on the linoleum while the dress whispered behind her.

Selphie’s mouth dropped open and Kairi turned to examine herself in the many mirrors. Her own breath caught in her chest. 

She looked like a goddess… 

The dress was soft deep garnet silk with an open back. The bodice was heart-shaped, hugging her full breasts. It hugged her frame perfectly to mid-thigh where the skirt flared loosely to pool at her feet. It didn’t have a particularly plunging neckline, but there was a slit in the side up to Kairi’s hip, baring quite enough flesh for one night. There was a sparkling waterfall of faux-diamonds from the empire waistline to the flowing skirt. Beneath it, her glossy red heels lifted her perfect, accentuating her long legs and her slender ankles. 

“Damn, Kairi, that is the one!”

She smoothed the silk against her flat stomach and whispered, “It is, isn’t it?”

“You are so getting that dress!” Selphie said and bolted to her feet. “Hurry up, Kairi. I’m starving.”

Kairi groaned.

…

Back in her jeans and t-shirt, sipping a root beer float, Kairi felt rather plain. The dress had made her feel both beautiful and perfect, like her life had become a fairy tale. In a way, it had. She had scored Riku Shark, the most sought after guy in school and she hadn’t even had to go after him. He had come to her. Riku had asked her out! Life was as good as it could get. She smiled at the caramel-cream fizz of the float on her tongue. 

Across from her, Selphie was cheerful, all smiles and laughs for no apparent reason. She dug into her own banana split, fishing through the heaps of chocolate sauce and caramel and mounds of nuts. She took a big bite and put a hand to her forehead. “Owwies, brain freeze.”

“That’ll teach you,” Kairi said smartly.

Selphie glared at her, took another big bite, and put her hand to her head again.

“Or maybe it won’t,” Kairi said with a snicker. “Who did you think doing that would punish?”

“I don’t know,” Selphie groaned and licked her spoon. “I still need a dress. What do you think I should look for?”

“You like yellow,” Kairi suggested.

“Yeah, but yellow doesn’t like me. I look like the sun.”

“It works for you. You’ll be eye-catching,” Kairi offered. 

Selphie groaned again. “I don’t want to be eye-catching. I want to look like you. I want Riku to notice me.”

Kairi felt guilt welling up in her chest. She already had Riku and Selphie’s dreams were already crushed. It was on the tip of her tongue to spill her guts to Selphie, but something stopped her. Her mouth tied up, tripped over itself, and froze. Her beautiful dress burned like a flame inside its bag at her feet. Then, as abruptly as it came, the moment passed. 

Selphie grinned at her, teeth all white and sparkling. “But hey, you’ll help me find the perfect dress, right?”

Guiltily, Kairi said, “of course, Selph, for as long as it takes. That’s what friends are for.”

Selphie beamed and stood up, tossing her sundae into the trash. “Well, let’s go! No more sundaes for me, I’m hoping to fit into a size 1.” She giggled mischievously and flounced away, calling back over her narrow shoulder. “Hurry up, Kairi!”

X X X

Well, next chapter… some lose ends and then *dun dun dun* The Winter Dance! Now’s the time I wish I wrote my chapters ahead of time so I could tease everyone with a little snippet, but alas you are all spared by my laziness and strange mind.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	10. The Winter Dance

I know the last chapter was a little boring, but if I skipped straight to the dance you all would have been left going “Huh?!” I had to have a little bit of what happened between (what day was it in this story? I think Tuesday without looking back.) Tuesday to Thursday. Now I can skip to the night of the dance and no will be left confused in the dust, except maybe Yuu… but he’s about to get some spotlight. And Roxas… where the heck did he get to?

X X X

The storm that had been looming on the horizon had blown over and the sky was now clear. The night was warm and pleasant, speckled with beautiful diamond stars. The moon hung like the Mona Lisa’s faint silver of a crescent smile. A few wispy clouds framed the bright sliver of moon and the ocean purred against the sand in the distance beneath the cliffs. The boarding school was lit up like a bright and cheerful Christmas tree, lights burning in almost every window. Music floated from the open doors, washing and echoing across the ocean.

Kairi smoothed her gown over her belly and adjusted the straps of her heels. Her cranberry tresses were loose and lightly curled around her face in long waves. She had brushed her eyelids with smoky indigo powders, swiped mascara on her long lashes, and painted her lips with red gloss. She felt like a princess. Sashaying in front of the mirror, she admired her reflection, snatched her black clutch purse off her dresser, and finally deemed herself ready.

Riku had told her to meet him at the dance, which she had thought was a little strange, but for him, she would’ve shown up naked.

Yuu was sitting cross-legged with the quilt drawn around his shoulders, waiting patiently for her to finish primping, as it was customary to bring slaves to these kinds of outings. One never knew when they might need a punching bag or a fetch boy for punch. Finally, Kairi tucked some money into her strapless bra, checked herself in the mirror one final time, and sashayed out of her dorm. Yuu trailed behind her.

The art students teamed up with student council and had been hard at work turning the cafeteria into a beautiful Winter Wonderland. The ceiling was hung with countless white and silver snowflakes cut in immaculate patterns. Silver and blue light danced off the sparkling flakes, spattering the room with rainbows. The room looked amazing. It was hardly recognizable from the regular cafeteria. 

Kairi ordered Yuu to wait outside, not wanting his eyes watching her wonderful moments. It was unnerving enough when Yuna watched them though Riku didn’t seem to mind. Then, she stepped into her perfect nightmare. 

Riku was wearing a fitted black tuxedo with a soft green silk shirt that perfectly complemented his jade eyes. His silver hair was soft as spun floss, shining like snow and moonlight in the surreal frothy light. Hanging on him was Selphie. She was wearing the beautiful black and yellow lacy ensemble that she had Kairi had purchased at the mall with her brown hair flattened into smooth waves across her shoulders. Even as Kairi looked on, Selphie lifted herself onto her toes and kissed Riku deeply, tongue and all. 

Kairi’s heart dropped into her stomach and was dissolved in the acids. She felt a sound emerge from her mouth but wasn’t certain of what it was. She planted both hands on Riku’s shoulders and shoved with all her might. Riku took a single step back to catch his balance, arms around Selphie’s waist holding the girl upright as she tripped in her heels. A smirk touched his lips.

“Hello, Kairi,” he said and her insides turned to jelly.

Her legs wobbled beneath her and almost buckled. Kairi wasn’t exactly sure what got her onto her feet. Maybe anger, maybe not. “W-what are you doing, Riku?” she forced out.

“Kissing a beautiful girl,” he said and dipped Selphie romantically to feather kisses on her throat.

Selphie’s eyes were on Kairi, glazed over with the bliss of having Riku and staring right through her friend. 

“But, you’re supposed to be my date,” Kairi said. “You asked me out at church a few weeks ago.”

Riku flicked his eyes to Wakka who was standing nearby in a black and orange tux to complement his hair and grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Selphie pressed her body lewdly against Riku’s, not caring that her best friend was standing mere feet away with her heart bottled up in her throat.

“I don’t understand,” Kairi whispered, wringing her fingers.

“Riku asked me out,” Selphie said and her voice was ice cold. It sliced through Kairi like a blade. “You lost, Kairi.”

“And I won,” Riku said silkily. “It was just a bet.”

“A bet?” Her heart was being broken because of a bet.

Selphie’s eyes flicked at Riku’s face, then back to Kairi. She seemed to realize that Riku was going to dump her as soon as the dance was over and Kairi thought for a moment that she would push him away. Then, Selphie snuggled her breasts against Riku’s arm. It didn’t matter to her, Kairi realized. Selphie had Riku. She had won.

Kairi’s eyes filled. She was suddenly very aware that everyone was watching her and all conversation around them had stopped. The silence deafened and the music suddenly seemed incredibly loud. Cold fingers touched her bare back and there was a vaguely familiar voice telling Riku to get lost, that he was a jackass. A second set of hands touched her shoulders as if to turn her away. Like Cinderella, Kairi turned, struggled through the pressing hands, and ran, but she made sure not to leave her shoes behind. 

This wasn’t a fairy tale… not anymore…

…

Kairi darted past Yuu in a blur of crimson silk and flowing cranberry tresses. Her shoes clattered on the pavement and she stopped for a moment to grab them from her feet. Barefoot, gripping her shoes in her fingers, she ran from the school as if the devil himself was at her heels. Yuu waited a moment, watching her silhouette grow smaller and smaller, like a shadow in the night. Then, he pushed off the building and trailed swiftly after her. 

…

“You’re a sick bastard, Shark,” Xion snapped. Her dress was beautiful and strange, like some mysterious exotic finery left over from the last century, showing vast expanses of soft caramel-colored skin between the web of smooth skintight blue and black silks and lace with a speckling of starry silvery rhinestones just below her bust. It was strapless, showing her shiny shoulders and long lean arms and fingers fisted into angry claws and the swell of her breasts as she drew in deep livid breaths. The dress was short, barely knee-length, exposing her long legs, and on her feet were knife-like stilettos. 

Xion was beautiful. There was a time when Riku had pursued her, but she was like a snake in the grass, playing him over himself and tripping him up in his own web of lies. 

At her shoulder, Roxas stood with his hand around her elbow, holding her back. His white tux was all at once pure and sickening. He looked like an avenging angel, silvery-blue tie loose around his throat like he had just come through something terrible that required extra breath. Just behind him, Namine looked nervously on, glancing between Yuna, the door where Kairi had ran out, and Riku. She, too, looked smoky and dangerous in a gauzy white dress that was both plain and beautiful. 

Riku stared down the army of jewel blue eyes, slightly unnerved. Where on earth did all these blue eyes come from? Weren’t blue eyes supposed to be rare? And here were three sets of sparkling sapphire cerulean blue eyes just staring him down. Now that he thought about it, Kairi had smoky bluish eyes as well.

It had been them who had come to surround Kairi in her hour of need.

Not that anyone would ever know exactly where they had come from. One moment, Kairi was there, falling apart at the seams, and the next Xion and Roxas were all around her as if they had materialized from the shadows of the dance floor. As if they had known…

“Where do you get off acting that way?” Xion continued, snarling deep in her chest. Suddenly, her dress wasn’t so beautiful anymore. She looked like a demon, a succubus, wrapped in snakelike tendrils of sparkling blue and black silk and lace. She took a step toward him, threateningly, heels snapping on the floor.

The room was even quieter now. Even the DJ had stopped playing songs. Everyone was holding their breath, watching the scene unfold. 

Xion’s full height plus heels was still a good head shorter that Riku yet he seemed to be shrinking before her. Selphie’s face was as white as a fish’s belly. She finally seemed to be realizing what her actions had caused, what pain she had caused Kairi. Xion got within arm’s reach of Riku and looked about to spring on him when Roxas finally made good on holding her back. He gave her arms a solid yank and she stumbled backwards to slam into his chest, wind knocked out of her.

“Leave him be. He’s not worth it. What would it do, anyway?” Roxas asked, gripping her shoulders hard enough that his fingers dug into her. “Let’s go. There’s nothing more we can do here.”

Riku smirked. “Go ahead, bitch.”

Xion launched herself at him, a sound in her throat, and Riku actually paled, but Roxas jerked her back again. Namine backed towards the door, pushing it open and letting in a gust of cool night air. Roxas glared at Riku as he dragged Xion away. Her teeth were bared in an animalistic way and her eyes flashed in the dimness, reflecting and all at once absorbing the refracting light from the sparkling snowflakes that hung from the ceiling. 

Once the door closed soundly behind them, a murmur rose in the room. Everyone knew this wasn’t going to be the end of this.

Selphie kissed Riku’s cheek and purred, “Forget about them. They’re just a bunch of blue-eyed freaks.”

Riku turned and captured her lips, tonguing her deeply so that she moaned against his mouth, and music began to play again, but out of the corner of his eye, he watched the door. He knew as well as the others that this wasn’t over.

…

The moon shone down, casting a surreal silvery silky glow on everything like the crisp touch of a mother. The ocean was beautiful, calm and glassy, reflecting the stars as if the sky went on forever. But while it was so perfectly beautiful, it was also untouchable. No matter what happened, the sea continued beating on the shoreline. It didn’t matter if there was an oil spill or if someone died or if a young girl’s heart was broken, the sea was uncaring. It just went on and on and on, crashing against the cliffs below the boarding school. 

Kairi wanted to be the sea. She wanted to be so beautiful and all at once untouchable… so beautiful that Riku wanted her, but couldn’t hurt her. Kairi’s feet sank deep in the dry sand, she tripped over herself and her beautiful dress, and went sprawling. She curled up into a ball, hugging her middle, and sobbed into her hands. 

It was silent, but Kairi sensed someone near her. The person sat down in the sand a respectful distance from her feet. She cracked her eyes open and glanced at the soft profile of her beautiful-ugly slave. Yuu looked small and sorrowful, as if he hated that she had been hurt. And he probably did. He probably thought she would beat out her frustrations on him.

Kairi sat up, rubbing her face with the heels of her hands. “What do you want?” she snapped at him.

His cerulean eyes shone in the dark like misplaced stars. Kairi shove don his shoulder and he slumped over sideways in the sand like a discarded toy. He didn’t fight her, didn’t even try to sit up until she had drawn her legs against her chest and wrapped her arms tightly around them. Only then did he sit up and mimic her position. 

“The sea,” he said softly, suddenly.

Kairi shivered as his voice went down her spine. His voice was like silk, smooth and soft and so gentle. “What about it?” Kairi asked bitterly. 

“She is beautiful,” he continued softly, “but there is nothing for her in life.”

Kairi glanced at him and then fully turned her face to him. “What do you mean?”

“The ocean has no one. She doesn’t care to,” he murmured. “Her beauty comes at the price of loneliness and all the creatures who live within her have love and life while she is forced to look on. It is not a life for her, but she is uncaring.”

“The ocean is uncaring,” Kairi repeated and looked out over the silky smooth expanse of water. She sighed, “I want to be the ocean. I want to be beautiful and untouchable.”

Yuu shook his head. “It is hard…” he whispered. “It is hard to live knowing that you are unloved. Even if you do not care, even if you know that you cannot be.”

He was speaking of himself, she realized and turned to glance at him. 

“The ocean… has no life, just the endless push and pull of the moon who controls her. The ocean is a slave,” he whispered.

His words shot through Kairi like an arrow. The ocean is a slave. Yuu turned and met her eyes without looking away. Kairi shivered in the cool night air, but found she could not tear her eyes away from his. Finally, he looked away, shattering the moment and Kairi was left feeling hollow and empty. She had been a slave herself, a slave to Riku and his desire. She had already been the ocean, uncaring of what it cost her just to have Riku.

She had already been the ocean.

The ocean is a slave.

But no more, no more…

…

“Where could she have gotten to?” Xion asked and fought her way through the low fronds of a palm. A few whipped back into Roxas’s face as he struggled up behind her. Namine was in front of Xion, carefully pushing the fronds aside with the flats of her palms. 

“Well, she couldn’t have gotten too far,” Roxas said. 

Xion’s blade-like heels sank deep into the sand and she stumbled continuously, unable to get footing, until Roxas got her under the arms. He held her up while she toed off her stilettos and then the trio began walking along the beach in search of Kairi. 

“There,” Namine said and pointed to the footprints in the sand down by the surf. 

Casting long moonlit shadows on the white sand, Kairi and her slave sat at the edge of the surf. Kairi’s head was ducked, shielding her features with a veil of blood-colored hair. She looked sad and exhausted, but her shoulders were pushed strongly back. At her side, Yuu was combing his fingers through the sand at his hip and he seemed to be speaking. His voice was low and soft, like molten chocolate, washing evenly with the sound of the waves. 

Xion darted towards them with Roxas on her heels, trying to pull her back before she could interrupt whatever moment they were having, but Xion was an unstoppable force. She sank to her knees in the sand just between them and flung her arms around Kairi’s shoulders. Startled, Kairi whipped her head around to look at the other girl and Yuu fell over himself sideways in the sand.

“Oh, Kairi, just ignore him. Shark is a bastard with no appreciation for real beauty,” Xion said. 

Surprisingly, Kairi only nodded though she remained quiet and sad-looking.

Roxas grabbed Xion by her naked shoulders and pulled her back while Namine knelt beside Yuu and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. He shied away from her touch, ducking his head and finally scrambling to his feet. He stood aside, distant from them, staring at his feet.

Kairi brushed some soft curls out of her face, tucking them neatly behind her ear. “What are you guys doing here?”

Xion shifted from foot to foot. “You know when I was on my way to Roxas’s dorm when you were leaving to go shopping and I ran into you? Well, Roxas and I put our heads together and we figured Riku had something rotten up his sleeve,” she explained.

Kairi narrowed her eyes at Xion, then shook her head, and smiled sadly. “I guess everyone knew he was an asshole but me,” she said softly. 

“Come on,” Xion said and pulled Kairi to her feet. “I’ll take you out on the town. You’re way to pretty to look so depressed.” She caught a glimpse of Kairi’s smeared make-up and said, “Eeek! Well, we can fix that in the car.”

“But,” Kairi began and glanced at Yuu.

Xion followed her gaze and grinned, slinging her arm around Kairi’s narrow shoulders. “Don’t worry about him. Roxas will bring him back to your dorm. Give him your key,” she said cheerfully. 

Kairi fished in her purse in a dazed sort of way, found her key, and handed it to Xion. Xion tossed the key to Roxas, slipped her arm through Kairi’s, whirled on her bare foot, and began to lead the other girl away. Roxas watched them go, wondering if it was a good idea to let Kairi go off with Xion. Xion was kind of an… acquired taste. She was brazen and coarse, strong-willed and never feared to speak her opinion, and she didn’t like Riku one bit. 

“Namine, could you come over here?” Roxas called because she had wandered into the surf so that the waves lapped at her knees. She turned, blue eyes glowing, and slogged through the sand to his side with Xion’s shoes dangling from her hand. Then, he faced Kairi’s slave and asked, “What’s your name?”

The slave lifted his eyes and a strange chill went down Roxas’s spine. 

His last memory of his brother, the image burned forever in his fragile young mind, was of the iron chains being clapped around his neck and wrists. His brother's soft musician's hands had bled freely, droplets pattering on their mother's cream-colored carpet like wine-rain. Then, in the threshold of the doorway, for a moment he had fought the people dragging him away. He had looked back over his shoulder at Roxas, beautiful sky-colored eyes shining like jewels. He didn't say anything, just looked back, and then the door slammed between them.

His brother turning in the doorway, looking back, with those eyes of his glowing in the darkness overlapped with the current image of Kairi’s slave lifting his head. The slave had his brother’s eyes—unspeakably soft and warm though hardened by the cruel edge of slavery.

“What’s your name?” Roxas whispered again and took a step towards him. 

The slave stumbled back a few steps, sinking in the sand. 

“What’s your name, please?! I need to know!” Roxas said desperately. 

“Y-Yuu,” he whispered and Roxas’s heart plummeted into his stomach.

X X X

Oh, and some fun writer’s knowledge of Microsoft Word! I just learned how to make a dash and in case someone else doesn’t know. You write words, put in two hyphens, write the next words, and Microsoft automatically makes a dash! Applesauce—chicken. Yay! 

Questions, comments, concerns?


	11. Music

I typed Sora about eight times this chapter. Everyone’s reviews are getting to me.

X X X

Kairi was lying on her side on her bed, looking over the edge at Yuu where he was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Her dress was spread in a silky puddle around her across the sheets, but she was back to feeling like a princess… a beautiful powerful princess who was better off without her prince. Xion was a refreshing change from the stress and trauma of making herself into whatever Riku wanted. Xion was almost careless, wild, and crazily confident with who she was… but also sweet and considerate. Kairi got the feeling that Xion was the type of person who would jump in front of a car to save a dog. 

When Kairi got back to her dorm half an hour before the dance was due to be over, she found Yuu already inside, waiting up patiently to let her in. Roxas and his pale blonde slave, Namine as Xion had told her, were nowhere to be seen. Xion walked her back, gave her a bone-crushing hug, and went off down the hall at top speed. Maybe she was going back to her own dorm. Maybe she was going to Roxas’s. Though Kairi had spent four hours with the other girl and now felt as if she had grown up with her, Xion was rather unpredictable. 

For nearly an hour now, Kairi had been lying on her bed in her dress, just watching her slave. “Umm, Yuu,” she ventured softly. 

He glanced up at her and then lowered his eyes. 

“Look at me, please,” she murmured.

Yuu lifted his gaze and met hers. His cerulean eyes were sincere and unwavering, glowing in the dimness of her room. She had noticed this soft change in his eyes since he had spoken to her about the ocean on the beach.

_The ocean is a slave._

“I’m… I’m sorry I hurt you when I was trying to impress Riku. He wasn’t worth it,” she whispered. 

Yuu winced lightly, remembering her blows to his face, but quietly murmured, “It’s all right, mistress.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Kairi said and sat up on her bed. She slid to her knees at his side and gently cupped his face in her hands. He shivered at her touch, but didn’t pull away. “You… haven’t done anything wrong. I’m going to try to be better. I won’t hurt you anymore.”

He lifted his eyes to hers and she saw hope in them. Regardless of what she had done to him already, he wanted to believe her. He wanted to trust her. His words echoed in her head, soft and hushed by the undertone of the ocean waves.

_It is hard to live knowing that you are unloved. Even if you do not care, even if you know that you cannot be._

Did he want… love? 

He couldn’t expect her to love him. He was a slave, but… his soft sky-colored orbs drilled into her, desperate and hopeful. Would it kill her to offer him some kindness, especially when he had done nothing to deserve otherwise? 

“I won’t hurt you again,” Kairi repeated.

Yuu ducked his head and nodded lightly. She could tell it hurt him to believe her. He expected her to break her word. He expected her to hurt him regardless of what she said. He was probably used to being lied to, Kairi realized.

“I won’t,” she whispered. 

“Yes,” she heard him whisper so softly it was more like a sigh. 

…

“He was lying, you know,” Namine said. Her voice broke Roxas from his thoughts.

Roxas was standing at his window, elbows on the sill, leaning out. His dorm was on the corner, giving him a view straight down at the waves breaking on the dark cliffs below. Normally, he watched the soft spray of rainbow that came from the mist, but tonight the pounding crashing waves dulled his dark depression as he watched more driftwood break against the sharp rocks. The breeze whistled through his soft blonde spikes and bathed the inside of his nostrils. He turned to face Namine where she was seated on his bed, watching him with icy blue eyes. 

“What?” Roxas asked.

“He was lying,” Namine repeated. 

“What do you mean?”

“His name isn’t Yuu,” she said softly.

“What do you mean?”

She patiently murmured, “His name isn’t Yuu. He was lying.”

Roxas’s eyes widened. “Then, he could be…?”

Namine didn’t agree or disagree with him, just softly said, “His eyes…”

“I know,” Roxas murmured and leaned back on the window sill, looking out at the cliffs again. “I feel like those eyes have been watching me all my life.”

Namine looked at him questioningly. 

“When I first saw him that day in the cafeteria, I felt like I had seen those eyes before. I just never thought… that he could be right in front of me.” Roxas took a deep breath. “If it is him, all my searching will be over. I won’t have to search anymore. I’ll have him back…”

Namine rose to her feet and came to stand as his side, gently putting her fingertips on his arm. 

“But, how can I be sure it’s him?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered and lightly looped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his back. His heartbeat was tremulous and uneven, like a broken bird shuddering over and over. “If he was stolen when you were so young, he may not remember anything of your past. Maybe find out what Yuu’s given name is?” she suggested. 

“I guess,” Roxas whispered, laying his hand over hers. “It’s late. We should get some sleep.”

Yuu’s cerulean sky-colored eyes, the most like his brother’s he had ever seen in all the other slave he and Namine had looked at, remained in his mind. He was tormented by the memories he still had of his brother… of them laughing and swimming as children, of making faces with mashed potatoes at dinner, of building forts out of blankets and pillows, of playing piano together, of the long white musician’s hands dripping blood, of those eyes looking back…

Roxas’s eyes shot open. 

He suddenly had an idea of how to find out if Kairi’s Yuu was his brother.

…

Kairi woke up later than she had been, showered, and dressed. She chose to wear her favorite pair of stone-washed jeans and a worn pale blue t-shirt. The pale colors brought out the flame-color of her hair and complemented her indigo eyes. Scraping her hair back into a loose messy bun, she stepped back into her room. Yuu was still lying on the floor, but his eyes were open, watching her.

“Come on,” she said to him. “Let’s head down for some breakfast.”

He got to his feet and pulled on his torn shirt. Kairi realized that he had stitched it back together from when Seifer’s gang had ripped it. Scarred white flesh peeked through the broad stitching. She needed to get him a new shirt and soon. Biting her lip, she thought of who she could get a shirt from. Maybe Xion’s friend Roxas…? She knew his dorm was on her floor somewhere between her own dorm and the staircase, but she wasn’t sure where. It wasn’t like she could go door to door knocking, now could she?

Kairi groaned and rubbed her face with her hands. Then, she turned to Yuu and asked, “I don’t suppose you know which dorm is Roxas’s?”

Surprisingly, he nodded and took a few steps in front of her. Then he hesitated, glancing back over his shoulder at her. 

Masters didn’t follow slaves.

But Kairi waved for him to lead her. She didn’t have much reputation left to lose. Riku had humiliated her already.

At the end of the hall, Yuu stopped in front of door and gestured silently. Kairi hesitated, glanced at him in his torn shirt, and knocked firmly. There was a little noise behind the door and Roxas pulled it open, looking tired but alert. His blonde hair was sleep mussed and his blue eyes were brooding. When he saw Kairi and Yuu, those eyes widened and he inhaled sharply. 

Suddenly, Kairi was a little nervous. “Um, hi,” she began. “We barely met last night, but this is my slave, Yuu.” She gestured to his ripped shirt. “I know you’re friends with Xion and I was hoping I could borrow one from you until I get the chance to do some shopping?”

He pulled a smile onto his face with what seemed maximum effort and said, “Sure, no problem.”

His dorm was neat and tidy and bare of all person touches with a single window that must have looked straight down on the cliffs. There was a mess of blankets and pillows on the floor with a scattering of art supplies in the nest. Namine was sitting there, sketching absently. From where she stood, Kairi saw that it was good and it looked like Roxas. Roxas had his white avenging angel tux draped over a chair, tie tied around the bedpost. 

“No family photos?” Kairi heard herself say as if from a great distance.

Roxas was bent into his closet, searching for a shirt, and he jerked up so quickly that he knocked his head on the rack. Rubbing his bruised noggin, he turned and held out a shirt for her. “No. I’m not close with my family,” he said sharply and Kairi sensed that it was a sore topic. She watched him eyes slide to Yuu and consider him. 

Beside her, Yuu shuffled.

“Well, thank you,” Kairi said worriedly and backed towards the door. 

“Wait!” Roxas scrambled as if desperate for her to stay. “You should eat breakfast with us.”

“Us?” 

As far as she knew, Roxas was never in breakfast. He and Namine always vanished off somewhere. She normally passed them as she was coming into the cafeteria. 

“Yeah,” Roxas said and rubbed the back of his neck. “Xion, Namine, me.”

Kairi wet her lips. She didn’t really have anyone to eat with, she supposed. Selphie had betrayed her and she wasn’t going to be eating with Riku. “Sure,” she said with a small smile. “I’d like that.”

Again, Roxas’s eyes slid to Yuu and Kairi’s hackles went up.

“He’s going to eat with me,” she snapped. “If you say otherwise, I’m not eating with you.”

Roxas looked startled. “No, I wasn’t going to say that I was just… I’m glad you’ve finally come around,” he said. Then, he smiled and all Kairi’s inhibitions about him melted away. He looked sweet and innocent, soft and kind, with all his white straight teeth showing. 

“I’ll see you at breakfast,” Kairi said and offered her own smile in return. She hoped it was half the one Roxas had given her.

…

Xion slid in beside Kairi, knocking their hips and elbow. Her plate was heaped with pastries and fruits and maybe a glass of orange juice buried in there somewhere. Roxas and Namine were doing the wholesome route, all bacon and eggs and toast with grape jelly. Kairi was swirling her cereal around in her bowl and Yuu was digging into a hefty stack of pancakes. For a moment, they were quiet, uncomfortable and unsure of what to say. 

At a table behind them, Riku was laughing and jeering about how he had played Kairi. Her fingers tightened to the breaking point around her spoon.

“Just ignore him,” Xion counseled. “He’s a dickhead.”

“Xion, watch your language,” Roxas said flatly.

“You’re not my mother,” she snapped and took a big bite of gooey cherry-filled and icing-covered goodness. 

“You should eat a more balanced breakfast,” he said just to rile her. 

Xion was very easily baited and you could tell the coming storm by the narrowing of her blue eyes. Surprisingly, she only took another bite and said simply, “You know what, Roxas? Shut up!” Then, she reached across the table while he was stunned into shocked silence and smeared a fingerful of icing down his cheek. She sat back in her seat, giggling. 

Roxas glared good naturedly, but acted the bigger man and did not retaliate. 

All too soon, breakfast was over and the day had to start.

…

Since she was now friends with Roxas and they had first period together, he walked her kindly to class. Xion, on the other hand, had to rocket off in the opposite direction. Since Roxas sat in front of her, it was easy to pass not-so-secret notes during Mr. Martin’s long monologues. Kairi found it hard not to giggle. Now that Roxas pointed it out, Mr. Martin was a lot like the forty-year-old-virgin. Then her private joke about him living with his mother probably wasn’t far off the mark.

She also had second period with Roxas. Ms W’s art class was even more boisterous and unruly than usual and she walked about the room, not even attempting to settle everyone down. She normally didn’t interfere with anything in the class unless there was a paint war or one of the teachers next door came over complaining about the noise. Roxas fetched out their canvases and Namine sat down beside him, leaning over his arm to get at the paint. Kairi patted the stool, encouraging Yuu to trust that she wouldn’t hurt him, and took her canvas from Roxas with a small thank you. Then, she shuffled out some acrylics from her drawer. 

“So Kairi, what do you have in mind for this project?” Roxas asked, leaning back so Namine could get what she wanted from his drawer.

“I’m not sure. Something with words. I want it to be moving,” Kairi said and ran her hand over the blank canvas. “How about you?”

Roxas cut his eyes to Namine and she dipped her head. “I’m painting with Namine,” he said.

A few other students whispered. Roxas was working with his slave on this art project? It was unheard of!

Kairi ignored them. “I noticed her drawings this morning and I must say, if you don’t mind, she has so much more talent than you. No offense.”

“None taken. She does.”

Namine blushed cutely. 

Ms W swooped in behind them. “That’s a fabulous idea, Roxas,” she said and clapped her hands in delight. Then, conspiratorially, she whispered, “You may actually get a passing grade. For once…”

Roxas chuckled. “I know, right?”

Kairi realized the extent of what Roxas was doing for Namine then. He was no artist. In fact, putting it gently, he absolutely stunk on ice yet here he was in this class. He had taken it for Namine, so she could draw and enjoy Ms W’s praise. 

Kairi glanced at Yuu. 

It would be wonderful to do something like that for him…

Third period, Chemistry, and Kairi was curious to see how the period passed with Xion as her friend rather than a rowdy disturbance. She waved to the teacher and chose a new seat beside Xion, tucking Yuu in at her feet safely out of everyone else’s way. 

Xion beamed at her, dark hair damp and plastered to her neck from the swimming class she had right before. “Yo, Kairi, how’s it hanging?”

“It’s hanging in her tight pussy,” Wakka hooted from across the room, making thrusting motions with his pelvis. 

Mrs. Steed and Xion went off on him at the same time and he was eerily quiet after that. If Xion had stared down Riku, then Wakka wasn’t really a challenge to her. Kairi already adored her confident defensive personality. If Xion was around, no one could touch her. 

But Kairi wasn’t the ocean. 

Her fingers wandered to Yuu’s shoulder and he winced, pulling away. After that, she didn’t try to touch him again. 

Chemistry flew by with Xion alternating between expertly explaining the lesson and cracking jokes. One minute there was an hour of class left and the next the bell was ringing for the next class and Kairi was wondering why she hadn’t made friends with Xion sooner. Really, why hadn’t she? Algebra seemed especially boring in comparison to rowdy Xion and Chemistry. Maybe that was why.

…

It was Manic Monday, cheese steak day in the cafeteria. 

Everyone got a cheese steak. 

There were no if, ands, or buts about it. 

Kairi, Roxas, Xion, Namine, and Yuu all crowded around a round table by the windows, leaning in to speak in the way only good friends did. Kairi wondered why it had never been this easy to talk to Selphie. Selphie was just as energetic as Xion, but Kairi was always having to reel Selphie’s attention away from something else so she could carry on a conversation. Xion dispersed all her extra energy by being totally attentive and working her brain to the maximum on things to add to the conversation. Roxas was quiet and thoughtful with a sort of distracted brooding look in his eyes most of the time. Namine’s voice was like Yuu’s—surprisingly light and soft and sweet, like a princess’s. Kairi was sad to see lunch end even though she usually longed for the peace and quiet of Study Hall. 

This time, she allowed Yuu to reclined back against her legs. She could feel his stone-hard iron-tense muscles beneath Roxas’s borrowed shirt. He was like a nervous statue.

“Yuu?” Kairi murmured once everyone else got down to work. “I was wondering… is there anything you’d like to do?”

He angled his head to look at her. “I don’t understand, Mistress.”

“Well, Namine draws and I was just wondering if there was anything you like to do.”

He was quiet for such a long time that Kairi almost gave up on him answering her when she heard his soft voice whisper, “Music. I like the piano.”

The piano… Kairi thought. Now that she thought about it, he did have beautiful musician’s hands with the long slender fingers so delicate beneath the year’s grind and grit of torment and slavery. 

The piano…

She wondered if that could be arranged.

…

After asking Xion, she found out that Roxas had Music on his schedule though like art he wasn’t very good at that either. She spoke with him, explaining that she wanted to find some way to find time for Yuu to play piano, and he looked as if he was going to slither out of his skin with excitement that was very badly disguised. He had been trying to think of some way to get Kairi to bring Yuu to the music room, but hadn’t been able to think of anything. And now, here she was, asking him! 

“I can’t promise anything, but I’ll see what I can do,” his mouth said, but his brain said, I will do everything to can to ensure that he gets his shot at the piano. 

After all, Roxas’s brother could play piano and that was something you never forgot.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	12. Behind Blue Eyes

I do not own the song used in this chapter. Oh and I know sometimes when I see songs in stories, I just skip them, but this song is going to be kind of important, so could everyone read the lyrics? Please!

This chapter came out a little short. Oops.

X X X

The piano had once been glossy and black, a showpiece, beautiful and loved. It was a Broadwood and Sons Piano, something beautiful and lost form the earlier century abandoned by the future of CDs and fake music revamped by microphones and editors. Now, it was settled backstage for background music during drama plays, lost and ignored, untouched anymore. It was out of use and dull brown and beginning to splinter on top. The surface was ringed with watermarks. Some stained music booklets were stacked in a box under the bench, outdated with faded ink and calligraphy. 

Roxas was standing to one side, holding the heavy velvet slip-cover in his arms, while Namine lit a tarnished candelabrum that was perched on a wobbling crate beside the bench. The wax had run down the sides of the old wood. The candlelight made her pale face look ghostly, haunted, like someone dead and gone. 

In comparison, the light flared and flashed in Yuu’s eager blue eyes. The way those orbs darted, though, showed that he thought this was too good to be true. Kairi stood beside Yuu, her hand lightly resting on the small of his back, guiding and urging him. 

“Go ahead,” Roxas said and set the cover down in a puff of dust. “It’s after hours and no rehearsals until eight tonight. The drama director said we could play if we liked until seven.” 

Yuu turned to face Kairi, eyes wide and hopeful. She understood why Roxas gave Namine her art so willingly. The look in his eyes, the pure hope and gratitude, sent a shiver of wonder through her blood. It seemed wrong that such a small act of kindness could mean so much. Unable to find her voice choked up in her throat, she could only nod.

Timidly, Yuu slipped onto the bench and gingerly ran his fingers over the dusty ivory keys. Then, he pressed a few keys, listening and taking in the sound as if he was teaching himself how to play again. Finally, he glanced back one final time, met her eyes, and went back to the keys. 

Only then did he begin to play.

The music he played was all at once beautiful, sad, and hopeful. It reminded Kairi of the silver lining to every storm and of the mistreatment something innocent as a child went through and of death and of life. A shiver went down her spine. Beside her, Roxas took in a sharp breath and gripped Namine’s hand tightly in his own. For almost a full minute, Yuu played lightly gently as if entranced by the feel of the instrument beneath his fingertips. 

Then, suddenly, he began to put passion and anger into it. His hands flew across the keys, striking softly and soundly. He wet his lips and breathed in and closed his eyes. Then, a song spilled from his lips as if uncontrolled and coming from deep inside him. 

His voice was perfect, molten, and roiled with emotions just beneath the surface of his words. The song sounded like a cry, like a story of himself that he could never bring himself to speak, like something that burning inside him. 

His eyes lit with a furious fire and the scars on his once-chained wrists blazed in the candlelight like white snakes.

Roxas saw blood dripping from those frail soft musician’s hands, overlaying Kairi’s Yuu with his brother once again. 

His voice smoldered in his chest, burned in his throat. 

_“No one knows what it's like  
To be the bad man  
To be the sad man  
Behind blue eyes  
And no one knows what it's like  
To be hated  
To be fated  
To telling only lies_

_“But my dreams they aren't as empty  
As my conscience seems to be  
I have hours, only lonely  
My love is vengeance  
That's never free_

_“No one knows what it’s like  
To feel these feelings  
Like I do  
And I blame you  
No one bites back as hard  
On their anger  
None of my pain and woe  
Can show through_

_“But my dreams they aren't as empty  
As my conscience seems to be  
I have hours, only lonely  
My love is vengeance  
That's never free_

_“No one knows what it’s like  
To be mistreated  
To be defeated  
Behind blue eyes  
And no one knows how to say  
That they're sorry  
And don't worry  
I'm not telling lies_

_“But my dreams they aren't as empty  
As my conscience seems to be  
I have hours, only lonely  
My love is vengeance  
That's never free_

_“No one knows what it’s like  
To be the bad man  
To be the sad man  
Behind blue eyes.”_

Yuu drew out the last notes of the song, voice fading in the echoing dimness of the stage, smooth creamy lids closed over his blue eyes. He inhaled deeply, but did not turn to face the gathering behind the bench, behind him. For a moment, Kairi, Roxas, and Namine just stared at him, unsure of exactly what to say or do. 

Roxas wanted to collapse and scream out his joy. That song was his brother’s favorite. He used to play it all the time at home to the point where Roxas had been ready to pull a sneak attack and steal the music sheet. Not that it would have mattered, his brother had the song committed to memory. What were the chances that Kairi’s Yuu had chosen that same song and that he looked so much like Roxas’s stolen brother? 

It wasn’t!

This had to be him!

Something must have shown on his face because Namine put her hand on his arm and gave her head a little shake.

Kairi put her hands on his shoulder and he tilted his head back to look at her, eyes still soft and hopeful. “That was beautiful,” she whispered.

He smiled hesitantly and stood up from the bench. He reached out as if to touch her, then curled his fingers into tight fists. “Thank you, Mistress,” he whispered. 

She smiled and thought that if it meant seeing this look on his face, this wonderful grateful look that made her feel as if she could walk on water, she would stay here with him forever and just let him play, but… Surprisingly, he seemed finished, ready to leave. He shifted from foot to foot, fidgeting. 

“You can keep playing,” Roxas said. “We don’t have to be out until seven.” He fished through his pockets and pulled out his phone. “It’s only five.”

Yuu wet his lips, glanced at Kairi, and then back to Roxas. He shuffled some more and then stepped back. “That’s… the only song I can remember…”

“Remember?” Kairi said softly at the same time Roxas’s heart jumped into his throat. 

Yuu slid his eyes to Roxas again and then lowered them. “I don’t remember much.”

“What do you mean?” Kairi asked.

“Nothing,” he whispered. “I’m sorry, Mistress.”

“Wait, this is about…” She also glanced at Roxas and pulled a phony smile on her face. “I’m sorry, Roxas. Thank you for this. If there’s anything I can ever do for you, please, let me know.” She glanced at Yuu. “But I think we’d better be going. I have some… stuff to take care of.”

Roxas almost protested. He wanted so badly to, but his mouth said, “Sure, Kairi, no problem. We’ll catch you tomorrow at breakfast.” He watched as they walked away, feeling like his eyes were being pulled out of his head. Then, the curtain swished back and they were hidden from him.

“Is it him?” Namine whispered.

“There’s no way it can’t be him. That was my brother’s favorite song,” Roxas said and swept the cover back over the piano. 

Namine blew out the candles and they were plunged into darkness.

…

Once they were safely in her dorm, Kairi closed her door and leaned against it. Her hands were tucked neatly behind her back, palms pressed against the door. “You can’t remember much from what?” she asked, studying him.

Yuu lowered his blue eyes. 

“Please, tell me. What can’t you remember much from?”

“From my old life…” he whispered.

“Your old master?” she asked.

Strangely, he shook his head. “No, my… old life,” he whispered. “I had a family.”

“A family?”

He nodded. 

Kairi wet her lips. The thought of him once coming from a family was strange. She crossed the room, sat on her bed, and gestured for him to sit beside her. 

He hesitated.

“I won’t hurt you. I just want to talk to you. I want to understand,” she confessed.

He perched on the edge, the mattress barely shifting beneath his scant weight. “Can you tell me what you remember about your family?”

He bit his lip. “I… played piano. Behind Blue Eyes was my favorite song.”

Kairi waited, watching him indirectly from the corner of her eye. 

He worried the scars on his wrists. “My parents were going to sell my brother. I couldn’t let them. I made them switch us.”

“You did that for your brother?”

He nodded. “He’s younger than me. I had to protect him. He… wouldn’t have survived in a life like this…”

Kairi silently turned her head and looked at the scars lacing up his arms. This young man had been through hell in his life and all for his little brother. She couldn’t imagine a love like that, so self-sacrificing. Tenderly, she reached out and placed her fingertips on the inside of his wrist. 

“Was it hard?”

“It was hard to leave and now…” he made a small broken sound deep in his chest. “I don’t even remember him. I don’t remember what he looks like or even his name. I sacrificed everything for him and I don’t know if he even remembers that I did.”

Kairi gazed at him as tears welled in those baby blue eyes. 

“The only thing I remember anymore is the sound of his voice saying my name when I was taken away.”

Her throat ran dry. “That’s why you won’t tell anyone what your name is. It’s your last memory of him…”

He nodded weakly. “My name is everything I have. It’s the only thing I have.”

She still wanted to know what his real name was, but suddenly it seemed terrible to take it from him. Kairi wrapped her fingers around his wrist, rubbing the scars on his wrist with her thumb. “Do you think, maybe… when you trust me enough, you could tell me what your name is? Maybe it’d be nice to be called by it again.”

He met her eyes and smiled timidly. “I’d like that,” he whispered. 

Kairi felt her heart splinter. He was beginning to trust her, to open up to her, but he was a slave. He could never be anything other than her worthless property…

X X X

I almost revealed his name in this chapter, but as I wrote it, it seemed too important to give to Kairi on such short notice. His name is too meaningful to him to just wing it out there. 

Something drastic is going to happen soon, I assure you. There’s a lot more to this story yet.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	13. School Under Fire

Kind of a slow chapter here, just to warn you, but it is very important! 

So read up!

X X X

The next morning, though it dawned promisingly clear, brought bad news. The cafeteria was filled with the murmur and buzz of nervous conversation. Students put their heads together, whispered, and glanced around as if stalked by an unseen enemy. There was a small congregation of teachers tucked around a corner table, looking very much like the students. Suddenly, the day seemed very much less bright and promising.

Selphie’s room had been broken into and Selphie was missing.

“What happened?” Kairi asked as she slid in next to Xion.

Xion’s cheerful blue eyes were shadowed and barred with dark bruise-like circle beneath them. She looked as if she hadn’t slept a wink and she was hopelessly stirring endless sugar into her coffee without seeming to notice what she was doing.

“She’s been up all night,” Roxas told Kairi. “Her room is right next to Selphie’s. The police had her up at the crack of dawn, answering questions.”

“Does she know anything?” Kairi asked.

Roxas shook his head. “Xion can’t sleep unless the television is on. She wouldn’t have heard anything even if she was awake,” he explained. 

“So, Selphie’s missing,” Kairi murmured and sipped her orange juice. Regardless of Selphie’s betrayal, they had once been friends. Kairi was concerned for the other girl. “Do they have any idea what happened?”

“If they do, they’re keeping it hush-hush,” Roxas said. “I haven’t heard anything except the school has been searched and they haven’t found a single trace of her. It’s like she vanished off the face of the planet.”

“She couldn’t have just vanished,” Kairi said.

“I know,” Roxas murmured and swirled his cereal around his bowl. “All classes have been cancelled. We’re supposed to report back to our dorms after breakfast and lock the doors. People who have their own dorms are supposed to bunk with a friend, use the buddy system.” He glanced up at Kairi. “I was thinking you should come to my dorm. I’m going to be taking Xion in and I know it’s just you and, well, Yuu.”

Kairi nodded. “That’s a good idea,” she said and turned to look around the cafeteria. Curiously, Riku wasn’t sitting at his usual table though everyone else was there, talking quietly. “Is anyone else missing?”

“No, why?” Roxas asked.

“Riku’s not here,” Kairi pointed out.

Roxas craned his neck to see around her head. “That’s true. He is ‘dating’ Selphie. The police probably wanted to talk to him. It’s probably nothing,” he said.

Kairi wet her lips and shoved a bite of toast into her mouth.

A few minutes later, while Roxas tried to coax Xion into giving him the sugar jar, one of the teachers produced a megaphone and called for everyone’s attention. “As I’m sure you all have heard by now, Selphie Tilmitt has gone missing. Now we are not certain there was foul play involved, but anyone who sees or hears from her is instructed to call the office with any and all information they have. Classes for the day have been cancelled and everyone is to return to their dorms. If you do not have a roommate, you are to spend the day in a friend’s dorm. Use the buddy system. As you are dismissed form breakfast, you are to tell our staff which dorm you are staying in so we know where you are. Any questions?”

There was a murmur of confused voices, but no one had anything to ask.

“Alright then, we will give you a moment to discuss your buddies and you may leave when you have decided.” The teacher lowered her megaphone and gestured for the remaining circle of teachers to station themselves at the doors.

Kairi got Xion by her arm, gently dragging the girl to her feet, while Roxas gathered up their breakfast dishes. Then, he returned to Kairi’s side to take Xion’s other arm. She was dead on her feet. Namine and Yuu stood on either side of their masters, looking nervous and edgy. 

Kairi signed herself and Xion into Roxas’s dorm and the five of them hurried off to his room. 

Once there, though, they were at a loss of what to do. They couldn’t just hide in his dorm while some unknown kidnapper had stolen Selphie right from her room. 

Roxas made Xion comfortable in his bed, covering her with a thick knit afghan quilt. Namine settled herself in her nest of pillows and blankets and patted the space beside her for Yuu to sit. He hesitated, but did go to sit with her. Kairi went to Roxas’s window and looked out at the dark crashing cliffs below. 

“Some view,” she whispered. “Makes you feel small…”

Roxas turned on the television to encourage Xion to sleep and went to stand beside her. He chewed his lip. He wanted so badly to tell her that her slave was his brother, the brother he had been searching for since he was old enough to go looking on his own. But… was there a good way to tell someone that they slave they had bought was the brother to a friend? Was there a good time? Was there even a good way? His mind was a blank screen of white noise. His throat worked uselessly and he felt Namine’s eyes on him. 

Exhausted and angry, he turned away from the window, but that only led his eyes to Yuu, to his brother. It was horrible to see the brother he had searched so close to him and yet so far. His brother was just out of reach, inches away from his hands. He felt as if he was drowning and precious air was inches away beyond a layer of ice. 

Roxas fisted his fingers and sat down heavily on the bed. 

How was it things could get so much better and at the same time be so much worse?

…

The sun was setting, painting the sky crimson and gold. The light glinted off the ocean and there was an iridescent rainbow spraying off the cliffs below. In the distance, birds called and swooped over the waves. Dolphins were leaping in the surf, dancing around a singular ship that bobbed out in the empty sea like a bottle with a message inside. The school was quiet and aglow with warm amber light. It was light a beacon on the cliff, a vulnerable fortress. 

Kairi had never felt so exposed. She didn’t have any pajamas and they weren’t supposed to leave their buddy’s dorm. She was wearing one of Namine’s nightgowns with only her panties on beneath. Her clothes were folded neatly on the floor. Roxas had lent Yuu some soft flannel pajama bottoms and a fresh shirt. Xion was scraping her dark hair into a sloppy ponytail and was wearing one of Roxas’s long tank tops with nothing but her panties on beneath it. That just went to show how confident Xion was with herself, especially now that she was out of her exhausted catatonic state.

“So, how are we all going to fit into this little room comfortably?” Kairi asked. 

Namine was taking apart her nest, making space for Yuu in it with her. He had a soft small smile on his face. She glanced up at Kairi and then looked at Roxas, but didn’t say anything.

“Namine, you can talk, you know?” Xion said as she set her brush on the bathroom vanity. “Kairi’s not going to eat you alive or anything.”

“I figured you and Xion could take my bed and I’d work something out. Namine is sharing her bed with Yuu,” Roxas said as he pulled spare blankets from his closet. He folded a couple up into nice thick mattress and Namine tossed him a pillow. “I think we can make it work.” Then, he ducked into the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. 

Well, not so much a knock as it sounded like someone had thrown themselves at the door.

“What on earth?” Namine murmured and stood up from her nest. 

Roxas poked his head around the threshold and said, “Be careful.”

Namine already had her hand on the knob.

The door spilled open and Yuna tumbled in. She crashed into Namine, knocking the slender young woman to the floor. Yuna looked worse than she usually did and that was saying a lot. She was usually nothing but skin and bones, pale and washed out, coated in bruises and scrapes from Riku’s abuses. Now, she was naked, wrapped only in an expanse of red silky ribbon, and beaten into a mess of swollen flesh. Her soft brown hair was plastered against her face with blood and sweat. Her entire body was soaked and shivering, battered, scrapes caked with sand. 

Kairi jolted to her feet only seconds after Yuu who was a split second behind Roxas. Xion was the slowest on the draw, coming up behind them all.

Roxas got Namine in his arms and clutched her to his chest. “You okay?”

She had a smudge of blood on her face and all the color had drained from her skin, but she nodded.

Kairi and Yuu rolled Yuna over, doing their best not to hurt her. Kairi felt a scream in her throat. She released Yuna and stumbled backwards. Xion slid into her place, cradling the other girl’s head before it could strike the floor.

“Oh shit,” Xion whispered.

Yuna’s eyes were swollen shut and her nose was bleeding. Her lips were split and bloodied, but worse than all that… her lips had been sewn shut.

“We need help,” Roxas said. “We need a nurse.”

“Come on. Let’s bring her downstairs,” Xion said, hefting her body experimentally. 

Yuna was feather-light, like a skeleton, and her head lolled over Xion’s arm.

“Is that safe?” Kairi asked.

“There’s five of us,” Roxas pointed out. “And even if it wasn’t. She needs help.” 

“We could call the office,” Kairi suggested. Her mouth tasted sour and her throat ran dry. She suddenly had a very bad feeling about leaving Roxas’s dorm.

“Kairi,” Roxas said sternly. “She needs help. The school is on edge. It could take too long for them to get up here to help her.”

“Stop worrying so much. The school is on lockdown. No one could’ve gotten in here.”

Yuna got in here, Kairi wanted to say, but Namine already had the dorm keys in her hands and was ushering everyone out. Roxas lifted Yuna’s shoulders from Xion’s grip and Yuu got her by her legs. Together, they carried her into the hallway. Namine locked up.

Nothing attacked them on the way to the office, but Kairi’s skin crawled with the sensation of being watched. A few times, she caught Yuu’s cerulean eyes flashing nervously, but no one else seemed to notice anything.

…

They must have been quite a strange sight staggering into the nurse’s office. 

Xion looked like a wild woman… or someone who had had a very rough night of partying. The top Roxas had lent Xion had ridden up on her middle, exposing her sharp hips and flat stomach, and the top had scrunched down to show the swell of her cleavage. Her purple panties were all that hid the rest of her body. Her hair had slipped from her ponytail, but a few strands were still scraped up. The rest was framing her face in a wild spiky array. Her eyes were pale concerned blue, thick lashes starred. 

Namine was as white as her short white nightgown save her stark blue eyes and the smear of blood on her face. She looked like a ghost, a waif, waiting at the gates of a graveyard with the keys sparkling like a bouquet in her white-knuckled grip.

Roxas was half-dressed, shirtless and clad in only pajama bottoms. There was a smudge of toothpaste at the corner of his mouth. His hair was wilder than usual and his eyes were glowing with adrenaline. He had Yuna under her arms, her head lolling against his chest, smearing blood in its wake.

Yuu was at Yuna’s feet, looking panicked and worried, with her legs lifted over his hips. He was beautiful and ugly at the same time, drowning in Roxas’s clothing since he was all skin and bones. His eyes darted as if searching for an unseen enemy, shaded by his thick chocolate tresses. A single bead of sweat rolled down the curve of his jaw. 

Kairi felt like Namine’s twin. She was wearing the same style of pale white nightgown as Namine. She felt pale and washed out, distressed and hunted like a deer in the forest stalked by a predator. Something was breathing down her neck, as cold as the touch of the reaper. The only thing that stood out on her body was her flame-red hair and her haunted blue eyes.

“Oh my God!” The nurse, a sweet woman named Aeris Gainsborough, leaped to her feet and quickly swept Yuna from their arms. For such a small woman, she lifted the slave easily and settled her on a cot. “What happened to her? What are you kids doing out of your dorms? What is going on?”

“Which on would you like answered first?” Xion asked.

Aeris narrowed her eyes. “Don’t be cheeky, Xion. Tell me what happened, first. This is Riku’s slave, Yuna, is it not?”

Roxas gave Xion and elbow in the ribs. “Yes. She fell into our door and when Namine opened it, she fell right into my dorm.”

“And she looked like this?”

“You know we could never hurt anyone,” Roxas said. 

“She was already beaten all to hell by the time she got to us,” Xion continued. “Not that it’s all that different from how she usually looks.”

“Are you completely insensitive?” Roxas snapped and gave her another elbow in the ribcage. “Knock it off.”

Aeris tenderly touched Yuna’s stitched mouth. “God, first Selphie and now Yuna. What is going on?” 

They were all quiet for a moment, looking at Yuna’s prone form. Her breathing was labored and a bright droplet of blood rolled from the corner of her mouth.

“Well, thank you for bringing her down to me. I’ll take care of her,” Aeris said. “Just wait while I call someone down to take you back up to your room. You’re all staying with Roxas, right?”

Roxas was nodding even as he said, “We’ll be okay. There’s five of us. We can make it upstairs on our own.”

“Please, I’m not sure that’s safe.”

“Aeris, we’ll be okay,” Xion assured her.

The nurse chewed her lip and glanced at Yuna. “No, someone is terrorizing the school. It’s bad enough you came down here alone. I’ll get someone to walk you back,” Aeris said firmly. “It’ll only take a second.”

True to her word, it took about fifteen seconds for one of the police officers stationed at the school to come to the nurse’s office. He was as big around the middle as Xion was tall and looked like he never turned down seconds of anything. He safely escorted them back to Roxas’s dorm, waited until Namine unlocked the door, and they were all safely inside before leaving. Only then did they hear his heavy footsteps pounding away.

…

Aeris bent over Yuna’s face, gently snipping the stitches in her mouth, pulling out the silvery threads. It looked like… hair? Finally, she was patting the last of the blood from the slave’s damaged mouth and sat back in her chair. Yuna’s bicolored eyes fluttered open, blood-occluded, struggling against the swelling on her face. She managed a small sliver of vision and saw Aeris. Immediately, her throat began working in a mild state of panic. 

“What is it, Yuna?” Aeris whispered, leaning closer. “Do you want some water?”

She shook her head painfully and wet her lips. Her tongue had been cut or maybe bitten. Then, she forced out the words, “He’s… after Yuu… He’s not going to… stop… until he gets him…” Then, black unconscious wrapped greedy fingers around her body.

X X X

Kind of a filler chapter. I set myself up bad by not including my main antagonist in my beginning chapters so now I’m floundering around trying to fit him back into the plot, tripping over myself, but it’s all squared away and set up now. 

We’re good to go!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	14. The Watchman

Man, am I ever sick. The creeping crud is going around and I have a wonderful head cold. I sound like a duck that got hit by a bus. *quack quack* Ugh, I hate this season!

Everyone keeps commenting on how fast I update. Yow! Thanks all. Do we like fast updates everyone? Hmm?

X X X

“I’ll get them.”

The voice was hoarse, echoing in the deep cavernous darkness of the natural cave. It bounced off the stalagmites, resonating and mingling with the soft whimpers of his captive. He had sent the slave back, sewn her mouth shut so she couldn’t speak of the things he had done or of who he was.

“I’ll get them all.”

A small crazed chuckle slipped through his lips, bouncing off the walls and the formations. 

“I’ll get them all for what they did to him… to my beautiful pet…”

“Please, please, let me go. I’ll do anything,” the weak whimper came at him through the silence and he glowered into the deep darkness as if that alone would silence his captive’s pathetic cries. It did. After a moment of tearful sobbing, she was quiet again.

She was afraid because of what he had done to the slave. He operated in perfect darkness so she didn’t know what he had done, just that she was alone now and the slave had been screaming and crying for a long long time.

“I’ll have him in my arms again soon. I’ll taste that name on my lips, on my tongue, like his flesh in my hands. It’ll be so sweet…”

The deep darkness was all encompassing, drowning him in it, kissing his skin. 

He loved the Darkness, relished it. 

He had always enjoyed leaving his pet in the Dark. 

His pet hated the Dark. 

His pet was a creature of the Light.

Fear was beautiful, tangible, touchable… delicious…

The distant sound of the breaking waves was sweet and soothing, washing and washing without a care in the world. Sometimes, he could glimpse the warm amber lights of the boarding school on the cliffs if the sea was still enough and the moon shone just right.

He was watching them, watching them all. 

“Soon, I’ll have him. I’ll punish the others for hurting him.” 

Another soft chuckle slipped from his lips and bounced off the cave walls. 

Then, all was silent for a moment with only the sound of the sea. 

His soft footsteps on the rocky floor as he approached his captive echoed eerily in his ears.

The girl sensed his approached and began to whimper and cry, making small sounds of protest and begging him not to hurt her. He shushed her with a warm hand over her lips, still and patient, waiting for her trust and acceptance to flow into him. She eventually stilled and quieted again. 

Then, the screaming began, shattering that perfect silence.

“I’ll get them all. I’m watching.”

…

Kairi couldn’t sleep.

Beside her, Xion was breathing softly and deeply, evenly, twitching occasionally in the grip of dreams. The television was on, but turned down low, filling the room with changing light and colors. On the floor, Roxas was alternating between snoring away like a lumberjack and making small nightmarish whimpers and cries. Namine was silent, stone still, like a beautiful fallen statue. Yuu was turned away from her, his back a fortress of bone. Maybe he was sleeping or maybe he was lying there with his eyes open in the darkness. She couldn’t tell. 

Beyond the window, the night was a thick abyss of velvety blackness.

Kairi pulled back the covers and gently got out of bed, trying not to wake Xion. Successful, she went to the window and looked out, but it was perfect blackness. It looked like there could be nothing beyond the cool glass. The moon was hidden by a thick blanket of clouds and the ocean had no sparkle. Only the distant crash of the waves assured her that it was still there. 

Body heat sunk into her cold skin and she sensed hesitation in the air around her. She looked back over her shoulder and Yuu was standing only a few inches away from her. His soft eyes darted and he shuffled nervously, but she only smiled sadly at him.

“I don’t feel safe here anymore,” she confessed once he had grown comfortable around her. “I feel like someone’s watching us.”

Yuu gingerly touched her arm and she turned to face him. “I feel it, too, Mistress,” he whispered, “but… I will protect you, no matter the cost.” His silence spoke volumes, softly, like a whisper in her ear that sent shivers down her spine. Unspoken: even if it costs my life.

“Why?” she asked him softly. She had done nothing to deserve his life in exchange for her own. She had done nothing for him that indebted him to her.

“May I… touch you?”

Kairi’s shoulders knotted, but her head nodded before she could think about his question. 

Gingerly, he cupped her shoulders in his palms, working his thumbs into the knotted muscles of her spine until she was jelly in his hands. His chest brushed her back and he leaned closer, timidly wrapping his arms across her collarbones. She wondered what he was doing, but didn’t want to ask. 

This moment was so still, so comfortable, so perfect.

His breath stirred the hair at her ear and his voice went through her like a taste of something incredibly sweet and innocent. “Because… you let me play piano…” he whispered.

Her muscles screamed in shock. “And that owes me your life?” she demanded, trying not to whirl to face him and disrupt his warmth on her.

She felt him nod, muscles in his chest rippling. “Yes, it is the… nicest thing anyone has ever done for me…”

Kairi touched his arms. His muscles were coiled tight, like stone, beneath her fingertips. He was on edge, wound tight like a spring about to burst, but beneath that tension… his skin was satin-soft and warm. There was a small smattering of freckles on his scarred wrists and on the backs of his hands. His heat was seeping into her body, making her warm and drowsy. Her legs folded neatly and she slid to the floor. He was pressed against her back, arms going around her body, scooping her safely into his grasp. He stood and carried her to Roxas’s bed, laying her gently on the soft mattress. She curled her fingers in his shirt and he gently pried her fingers away, wrapping them into the duvet. 

“Sleep,” he whispered. “I’m watching the door. Everyone will be safe tonight.” 

The moon came out from behind a cloud and the light caught in his eyes. They glowed in the dark, flashing dangerous electric blue.

“He won’t make a move tonight,” Yuu whispered.

That was the last thing Kairi remembered. When she opened her eyes next, it was to the sound of screaming.

X X X

I know this chapter is waaaaaaaaaaaay short, 1200 words, but I set myself up for a perfect cliffhanger and set my villain up all mysterious and wonderful. So, I’ll make you all suffer and end it here. Mwuahahaha!

(I find I get more reviews on a cliffhanger anyway!)

On my shortness principle, I’m so sorry! I like long chapters, but this was just too perfect!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	15. I Got Them!

I’m glad a few people thought Riku was the villain. I was aiming for that.

Sorry this chapter took so long, but I’m in an awkward turning over point to begin with. Then, I wrote this whole chapter to be revealing Yuu’s real name, but changed my mind at the last minute and had to rewrite the whole thing.

X X X

The stillness of the predawn grayness was shattered.

Xion was sitting bolt upright in Roxas’s bed, clutching the blankets to her chest in white knuckled fingers. Her eyes were wide and panicked, mouth gaping open, and the most horrible sound was coming from her throat. Her dark hair was plastered to her cheeks and sweat rolled down her face. 

Kairi lurched up beside her, startled. She glanced around the room, but the door was tightly closed and no one was in the room with them who hadn’t been there before.   
Yuu was sitting up beside Namine with one of her thick quilts snarled around his shoulders, eyes wide, but he hadn’t leaped to his feet. There were dark circles beneath his cerulean orbs. It looked like he had been up all night. 

Namine sat up, blearily rubbed her eyes. She looked like she was used to waking up to the sounds of screaming.

Roxas was the only one who leaped to immediate action. His blonde hair was a spiky mess around his head, a frizzy golden halo. He scrambled from his twisted mess of blankets on the floor and tripped his way to Xion’s side. He grasped her shoulders and gave her a shake, but she continued screaming. 

“Xion, Xion, come on! Stop it! Wake up!” Roxas shouted over the sound of her howl. “Xion, stop it! Please, wake up!” Then, he hauled back and slapped her.

Xion’s head whipped to the side, skin glowing bright red where Roxas had struck her. Her eyes filled with tears and a single drop made a slow path down her reddened cheek. Slowly, her hand went to her cheek and cupped the burning flesh. Then, her eyes lit on Roxas and she whispered, “What happened?”

Roxas slumped down on his knees beside the bed and put his face on the sheets. “Whew,” he sighed. 

“W-what happened?” she repeated, turning to Kairi. 

“I don’t know,” Kairi murmured and smoothed the blankets across her legs. “You were screaming. You woke us all up.” 

Namine stood up from her nest of blankets put her hands on Roxas’s shoulders, and gently eased him into a sitting position on the bed beside Kairi. “Master Roxas, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. She just gave me a start,” he said and rubbed his face with his hands. “Jeez, Xion, what were you dreaming about?”

Her eyes grew shadowed, but she said, “I don’t know. I don’t remember…”

For a moment, they were all silent, watching a small sliver of sun begin to peek over the horizon. The sky was blood-red full of dark wispy clouds, reflecting on the surface of the choppy ocean so that the color seemed to go on forever. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. If the sky was any indication, there was some warning looming on the horizon. 

…

It was a little awkward with five people trying to brush their teeth, comb their hair, and shower all in Roxas’s little bathroom, but they somehow made it through with minimal amounts of streaking and flashing. Namine was the last one finishing up while Roxas was in the shower and Yuu was carefully folding up the tousled bedding from the night before. Kairi shimmied into yesterday’s jeans and walked up to where Xion was sitting at the window, perpetually combing her dark hair. 

“Um, Xion, I think you got all the tangles out. You’ve been going at it for at least ten minutes,” Kairi said and sat down beside her friend.

“Huh?” Xion asked and blinked as if waking from a long sleep. 

“Your hair,” Kairi repeated. “If you keep going at it, it’s all going to fall out.”

“Oh,” Xion said softly and lowered her brush. Her hands shook. 

“If you don’t mind my asking, what were you dreaming about?”

“I told Roxas, I don’t remember,” Xion said and shifted her eyes.

“Yes, but that’s what you told Roxas. What would you tell me?”

“I really don’t know, Kairi. I don’t remember…”

“But you were screaming and you still look rattled.”

“I am rattled,” Xion said sharply. “But I really can’t remember what I was dreaming about. I just had this overwhelming feeling of fear. I felt like I was trapped somewhere and a monster was closing in on me. I felt like I was tied up and blindfolded and someone was going to burn off my toes. I just… had this horrible feeling of doom hanging on my chest.” She took a deep ragged breath. “I feel like something very bad is going to happen…”

Kairi shivered. She didn’t usually put much stock into dreams or premonitions, but Xion looked truly frightened. Swallowing her tongue, she said softly, “I’m sure it was just a dream. You must be stressed because of what happened to Selphie.”

Xion hugged herself and looked out the window at the clearing red sky. “Yeah, that’s it… I’m sure you’re right, Kairi…”

Then, Roxas and Namine blew from the bathroom in a whirlwind, collecting books and supplies and shuffling poor Yuu from one side of the room to the other. They didn’t have any more time to worry about Xion’s nightmare. 

Classes were starting again today.

…

The boarding school was humming with gossip and activity. Surprisingly, everyone seemed to be in good spirits. Everyone had heard about the ploy Riku had pulled on Kairi and Selphie’s place in it. By now, they had decided she was simply embarrassed and had run home for a few days. By the end of the day, it seemed like the scare had mostly blown over. The students were still encouraged to use the buddy system, just in case something fishy was going on, but people could go back to their own dorms. 

It had been a stressful few days.

For Kairi, it had been even longer. She was ready to de-stress. 

“I think we should head down to the beach and watch the sunset tonight. What do you think?” Kairi asked as she, Roxas, Namine, Xion, and Yuu walked back to their dorms. 

Xion was back to her old self by now, wreaking havoc and bouncing off the walls. “I think that’s a fabulous idea! I could go for a swim!”

Roxas rolled his shoulders, always the voice of reason. “I don’t know. They’re not sure it’s safe…”

“Oh, come on, Roxas. There’s five of us. What moronic murderer-slash-kidnapper would try to attack us?” Xion said.

There was a moment of silence. She did have a point.

Namine gently and timidly touched Roxas’s arm, pleading with her eyes. She did love the beach and he could never deny her anything, none the less this one little thing. 

“Alright,” Roxas said with a deep sigh. “Everyone should meet in the stairwell in fifteen minutes. We’ll walk down together.”

“Roger!” Xion said and bounced off at a breakneck pace, skipping joyously. 

Roxas turned to Yuu and said, “You should come with me. I’ll lend you one of my bathing suits.”

Yuu cast his doleful cerulean eyes at Kairi and she nodded. “Roger that. We’ll all meet in the stairwell in fifteen,” she agreed. 

The remaining foursome went their separate ways.

…

The ocean was rolling back and forth, back and forth, like a slave or a clock. The sun was just sinking below the horizon, painting the sky an array of carnival colors and staining the sand into cotton candy. The palm trees rustled eerily, like skeleton bones clattering, but the sound was overwhelmed by the peacefulness of the washing sea. 

Xion was waist-deep in the ocean, splashing gleefully. Her bathing suit was pale lavender and it looked strange on her normally black, white, and blue clad body.

Yuu was waist-deep beside her, looking put-upon. His scars gleamed in the fading light. He looked like a fallen angel that had been crippled in his fall to earth. 

Roxas and Namine were at the edge of the surf, standing close and speaking quietly. They looked like pale blonde ghosts that had drowned at sea, having been in the ocean earlier and were now stringy-looking from the salt of the sea.

Kairi was a ways away from all of them, gathering shells in her arms and pockets. Her red hair was sweeping the curve of her face, tickling her throat. She felt beautiful, like she had the night of the wretched Winter Dance when Xion took her out on the town. 

It was a small moment later that the peacefulness was shattered. Cold hands wrapped around Kairi’s body. The shells spilled from her grasp with a clatter and she got out half a scream before a hand closed over her mouth. Thankfully, Roxas had already turned to look at her. His blue eyes widened and he took off in her direction. Namine was a step behind him. A step behind her, Xion and Yuu were slogging from the ocean.

For a moment, Kairi was touched to have such quick and caring friends. Selphie would have run screaming in the other direction. Then, her fear slammed into her again. She bit down on the hand covering her mouth and screamed with all her strength. 

Suddenly, there was a chilling click beside her ear and she saw Roxas’s face shatter into a million pieces.

“Don’t do it!” He shouted. 

Kairi knew what it was by his reaction. 

A gun…

Her eyes filled with tears and her heart fluttered uselessly in her chest. 

“Take one more step and I waste the bitch,” a horrible voice said against the shell of her ear. 

Kairi’s stomach filled with ice. “Roxas…” she whispered.

“Stop talking,” the voice snarled and the barrel of the gun dug into her temple. 

There was a tense moment where nothing happened. Roxas had stopped in his tracks a few feet from her with Namine a step behind him. Xion and Yuu were still panting their way up behind them, losing traction between the water and the sand. Finally, Xion and Yuu caught up and the four of them stood there, staring desperately at Kairi. 

“Collect all your stuff and hurry up.”

With nothing else they could do, they ran to gather jackets and towels that had made it down to the beach with them. Xion shrugged into her hoodie, zipping it up over her wet bathing suit. Roxas gathered Namine under his arm when she slipped in the sand. Her eyes were full of tears, but they were strangely calm. She wasn’t afraid. In front of the trio, Yuu’s expression was both livid and frightened. His fingers were rolled into tight white fists. 

“Follow me.”

Helplessly, they followed Kairi’s strange assailant. 

…

The cavern Kairi’s assailant brought them too was dark and deep. It smelled like old blood and deep subterranean earth. Far in the depth of the cave, someone was whimpering and there was an absent dripping sound. Stalactites hung from the ceiling, reflecting the faint light that was seeping in from the mouth of the cave. The distant sound of the ocean was like a second heartbeat.

Xion stumbled through the sand and Kairi could hear her teeth chattering. “I dreamed this,” she whispered.

Suddenly, Kairi was shoved forward. Her face slammed into the hard stone wall of the cave and spots exploded in her vision. Collapsing to her knees, she clutched her face, groaning in agony. Vaguely, she watched as her assailant whirled to attack the others. 

Since Yuu was at the lead of her friends, he got attacked first. A hard blow to the stomach doubled him over and then a knee was brought into his face with a crack. For a moment, Yuu remained on his hands and knees, looking like he was going to pull himself back to his feet, but his entire body began to tremble, he fell, and he didn’t get up.

The assailant dropped Roxas with a quick blow to his throat. Coughing and gagging, he remained upright for a few seconds and then crumpled in a heap. 

Another blow slammed into Namine’s mouth with a sickening crack and blood splattered across the stone floor. Whimpering, she clutched her mouth, but didn’t go down. Her threshold for pain was too high. It took a second punch to send her flying. Her back slammed into the cave wall and she lay like a broken doll, unmoving. 

He whirled on Xion, but by now she had had time to prepare. The sleeves of her hoodie were rolled up to her elbows and beneath it she was all tanned sandy legs. She didn’t have a weapon, but she fisted her hands together like a club and swung as hard as she could. She caught him in the chin and his teeth snapped together with an audible click, but that was all she managed. He punched her even harder than he had Namine and Xion dropped like a stone. 

“I got them…” he whispered. “I got them all.”

X X X

Well, I’m beginning to think I have something against names. No one is getting any names!

So, go ahead and take a guess at who the villain is. 

Questions, comments, concerns?


	16. Sora

I played such a dirty trick on you all. I’m so sorry. Right after I posted the last chapter, I took a shower and was thinking about my story and decided… no character in Kingdom Hearts correctly suited my purposes for the evil guy. Seifer wasn’t near evil enough and I originally intended Xehanort, but I hate typing his name so… I created my own!

Please, no one have an aneurism!

X X X

When Kairi woke, she was surprisingly warm and her head was resting on something soft. If it wasn’t for the throbbing headache she had from the blows to her face, she might have thought it was all a very bad dream. Forcing her eyes open, she found herself staring at Yuu’s knobby knees. Past his knees, Namine and Roxas were bound and slumped against the wall opposite them. Speaking of them, there was a heavy weight on Kairi’s back, drilling her ribcage uncomfortably into Yuu’s legs. Xion, she decided, when she shifted and black hair slipped down over her bare shoulder. That and the cold zipper of a hoodie and long bare legs tossed carelessly across the floor.

Rough rope held Kairi’s wrists securely behind her back and her ankles had been tied neatly. The knots weren’t loose and the rope felt sturdy. Suddenly, Kairi was very aware of the fact that they might not make it out of here alive.

Warm fingers timidly touched her head and she winced at the spike of pain that speared through her skull.

“Yuu,” she whispered.

“I’m here.” His voice was bliss in the dimness of the cave, soft and smooth and sorrowful. 

For some reason, all the empty assurances that Kairi had wanted slipped from her mind. It was suddenly enough that he was here. 

She realized she was about to lose everything she had ever held dear. Her wonderful friends that had come to her in her moment of need when everyone else had deserted her—Roxas, Xion, and even quiet Namine… And her beautiful-ugly trusting-tormented slave whose name she had never even known—Yuu—and she suddenly realized she never would know what his name was… 

She was going to die here.

Tears pricked at Kairi’s eyes, burning like fire in her throat. She felt no shame in crying, even as Yuu gently ran his fingers down the nape of her neck and made soft sounds deep in his chest. 

“Please,” she felt her lips whisper. “We’re all going to die. Tell me your name.” Her voice cracked and she sobbed quietly, reduced to sobbing and begging. “Please, tell me your name…” 

“Sora.”

Startled, she missed the soft octave of his voice. “What?” she sobbed.

“My name… it’s Sora…”

Her chest swelled with warmth and joy. 

Sora… 

It was a beautiful sky-like name, lit from the inside by the sun, kissed by the ocean and enslaved by the moon. She didn’t know what she had expected his name to be like, but this blew her out of the water. It described him perfectly. She now saw why it was his greatest treasure. 

“Y-you told me,” she whispered. “Sora.”

She felt a small shiver run through him when she spoke his name aloud. 

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

He made a small jerky nod with his head. “I wanted you to know because…” he took a deep shuddering breath. “I can get you all out of here, but he’ll tear my body to pieces.”

Kairi’s blood ran cold. 

His voice sounded so thick and hopeless. It was like countless needles of ice piercing her heart and soul. 

He had given up. 

“No, we’ll all get out.” She didn’t know where her hope was coming from. After all, only moments before she had been reduced to tears and hopelessness herself.

He shook his head. “We won’t. I won’t,” he whispered. “I’ll get you all out, but he’ll tear me to pieces.”

“You know who this is?”

He nodded. “He’s an old master of mine, Tristan. For the first time in history, a master was taken to court for abusing a slave. The jury actually ruled in my favor and I was taken away from him. That’s how I wound up back in the Center.”

“But, that woman… she told me your last mistress needed an uglier slave.”

“That was after him. They were doctors. It’s the only reason I survived… because I was in their care and she liked my face enough to save my life…”

“You said a court ruled you away from this guy. How is that even possible?”

“You… don’t know what he did to me… I might not be human, but the things he did to me…” His voice cracked and he didn’t say anything else.

Kairi wanted to ask him, wanted to know what kind of monster they were dealing with, but his face was so pale that she didn’t want to make him relive any of the horrors he had already barely survived. She squirmed her shoulder against his thigh, rubbing her cheek on a sliver of bare skin that peeked beneath the hem of Roxas’s borrowed swim trunks. After a moment, he slipped his fingers through the sticky silk of her bloodied crimson hair. 

“Don’t worry,” he whispered. “I’ll get you out.”

“Sora,” she murmured.

He pressed his fingers to her lips and she noticed that he wasn’t tied up. “Please, don’t let him learn my name. Don’t tell it to him…”

She nodded, skin burning with a cold fearful sweat, and closed her mouth over his precious name. 

Looking through the darkness, Kairi watched at Roxas slowly came awake. He made a soft sound and then pressed his bound hands to his bruised throat. There was a heavy band of black and green bruises on his windpipe from the blow that had landed there. Namine’s mouth was a wash of blood down the front of her chest. Roxas gently cupped her face in his hands, brushing some damp blood from her lips with his bare wrist, and her ice-blue eyes fluttered slowly open. They looked like avenging angels, wounded and struggling but dangerous, like they had the night they had come to Kairi’s rescue at the Winter Dance. Heavy on Kairi’s back, Xion stirred and groaned. 

Everyone was awake now. 

What would come next…?

…

Tristan looked down upon his assembled captives from the salt-stained velvet-cushioned chair he had plucked from the sea. The five he had captured at the beach—the two pale blonds, the redhead, the raven-haired girl, and his beautiful nameless pet—were strewn in neat groups opposite each other on the walls. Deep in the back of the cave, the brunette he had stolen right from her dorm in the school was sobbing into her knees desperately. Beside her, bound like a turkey for slaughter, was the silver-haired young man who had come looking for the brunette. Tristan didn’t know who these people were, but he figured they would hold great sway over his beautiful pet. His pet hated to see others hurt, especially when he could prevent it. So, to get his pet back into his clutches, all he had to do was flash some blood and the pet would walk willingly.

Tristan chuckled to himself and watched a small army of blue eyes flash across the cave towards him. 

A tremulous shiver went through his body. 

All these blue eyes… 

It was unnerving. 

Even his pet had shocking cerulean eyes.

They were staring him down, watching him, like cats ready to pounce. 

The raven-haired girl finally hauled herself into a sitting position and leaned close to the redhead, whispering.

Well, Tristan couldn’t let them formulate a plan.

He stood from his salvaged throne, turned up the gas lantern he had on low beside him, and stepped between the assembling of jewel blue eyes, blinding them with the lamp. Only his beautiful pet did not avert his angry cerulean gaze. In fact, his pet tightened strong fingers around the redhead’s shoulders, gripping the raven-haired beauty around her, and pulling the pair close to him. Across the space, the two blonds huddled close, all pale whiteness and crimson blood. 

Those blue eyes watched him. 

They waited for the moment when they could pounce like a lion on its unsuspecting prey. 

They counted his every step. 

Tristan knew then that they had already thought of something… whether or not they would be stupid enough to act on their plot was up to them. 

He felt his lips curve into a smile. Here, they were in his lair. They were in his control. 

There was no escape.

Not for his pet…

Not for them…

No escape!

…

Sora put his teeth into his lip, watching his old master warily. Kairi was shaking and trembling against him and Xion’s icy eyes were narrowed into fearful slits. Roxas had gotten his legs underneath him. He looked poised to spring, but Namine had her fingers curled in his shirt. 

Tristan smiled at them, lifting the lantern to blind those damnable blue eyes. The light bounced around the cave, illuminating the deep blackness. Riku and Selphie were bound tightly to a stalagmite. Selphie was bloodied and beaten, but Riku looked untouched other than the tear tracks staining his haughty face.

“Selphie!” Kairi said. Concern for her old friend overwhelmed the hurtful things that had happened at the Winter Dance. 

Selphie lifted her face, green eyes terrified and agonized. “K-Kairi,” she whimpered and immediately flinched though Tristan hadn’t even turned to give her a passing glance. “P-please, help me… D-don’t let him h-h-h-hurt me anymore, p-please.”

“Get up, girl. Come to me,” Tristan snapped.

Kairi’s tongue caught in her mouth, cementing to the roof of her mouth like glue.

Selphie got first to her knees and then to her feet. Her face was curtained by her matted brown hair, hidden, but she began to whimper and shake even as her scratched feet brought her closer and closer to Tristan. Her clothing hung off her body, tattered and cut and torn. She looked like she hadn’t eaten, all skin and bones. 

Selphie looked like a slave. 

She looked like Sora.

Kairi pressed closer to Sora, wishing her hands were free so she could touch him. 

“Get on your knees,” Tristan snarled.

Selphie crumpled like a folded paper doll, on her knees, sobbing and whimpering. “P-please, don’t hurt me…”

“Oh, sweetheart, you know I’d never hurt you,” Tristan purred.

A shiver went through Sora and he straightened. A desperate sound hummed deep in his chest and he tightened his fingers on Kairi’s shoulder. She winced. Clearly, he knew what was about to happen and he feared it.

Selphie smiled softly, tremulously, trusting and fearful. Tristan lowered his hand to her face, gently caressing her swollen cheek with his fingertips. Her eyes fluttered closed, relaxed by his touch even though she had been terrified only a moment before. 

“No,” Sora whispered. 

Coldness gripped his chest. 

He had seen this before. He had seen that look in his own face, trust and fear. He knew Tristan was going to hurt her, but the way he spoke and moved made Selphie feel loved and safe. She thought that maybe this time, he wouldn’t hurt her. Maybe this time, he would take her in his arms and make her feel wonderful again. It was the strange mixture of love and fear that made his blow all the more crippling when it finally came.

Tristan cut cold amber eyes in his direction, smiled sickeningly, and without warning slapped Selphie across the face so hard that she fell over herself. Clutching her face, sobbing and whimpering, she curled up into a ball on the cold cave floor. 

The muscles in Sora’s body tightened and curled. Kairi pressed against him as if to hold him back and, after a moment, he did settle back against the wall. His breath rattled deep in his chest like something had broken loose. 

“What do you think, pet?” Tristan asked, turning to look at Sora. He put his foot down hard on Selphie’s ribcage, pressing hard enough to make her gasp and whimper. “Are you worth it?”

On the floor, Selphie whimpered in agony.

Sora tightened his fingers around Kairi’s shoulder, then suddenly… he let go. He got to his feet and stepped up before Tristan. His fingers were wound into tight white fists that slowly uncurled under Tristan’s heavy stare. Lax, he stood there for a moment. Then, he did the most heartbreaking thing Kairi had ever seen. He slowly got down on his hands and knees, bending himself in the low face-in-the-dirt bow she had only seen when she first bought him, and said softly, “No, Master Tristan.”

Tristan’s mouth split in a jack-o-lantern grin, all ragged yellowish teeth and gloating. 

He had won. 

His pet was back in his hands.

X X X

Wahahaha! The plot unfolds.

And you are now all legally allowed to say Sora’s name! I give you all permission!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	17. What He Wants

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, everybody!

I really don’t have anything to say… Except maybe everyone who’s been asking me how slavery got started in this story should find something else to ask. The history of slavery isn’t important to the plot so I won’t be going into it. 

Grr, I kept having to go back and add stuff to this chapter. I finished it and then went back and added about four scenes. So… ENJOY!

X X X

Tristan was all deep dark feathers of raven-colored hair and murderous amber-gold eyes. He was handsome, there was no denying that, but he seemed untouchable and dangerous. At the same time, he was like a small child, looking like he might need someone to hold and coddle him. Those eyes gleamed alternately loving and abusive, flashing like razor blades. He moved like a spider, alluring and beautiful, with the threat of venomous fangs just beneath the surface.

A poser, a jester… a secret.

He had perfectly shaped the perfect moves to tantalize and destroy even the strongest of hearts. 

First, he loved them. He wrapped them in satin and soothed whatever wounds they had. He kept them fed and safe, warm and comfortable. He made them trust him, fall in love with him, need him.

Then, he hurt them. 

Then, he cuddled them, saying he loved them and he would never hurt them again. 

Then, he beat them down, screaming they deserved less than dirt, tearing them apart. 

Then, he wrapped their wounds in rose-petals and kisses and put them between the sheets of his fluffy bed.

Then, he raped them, destroyed their bodies.

Then, he fed them delicacies and sweet champagne and showered them in presents.

Finally, when they were perfectly broken beneath his thumb, perfect slavering dogs that bowed to his every whim. Both terrified of him and desperate for him… dying beneath his torturous rapings and beatings and purring like kittens beneath his soft touches. 

Then, they were perfect for him. 

Then, he could kill them.

Tristan had never gotten to kill his pet. 

The court had actually ruled his perfect beaten slave from beneath his thumb and taken him back to the Center. There, Tristan assumed his pet would die, but the creature’s will to live was too strong. He survived despite the grievous wounds and ravaging infections long enough to fall into the hands of that doctor and his wife. They saved him, nursed him back to life and health.

Then, that redhead bought his little pet, his little toy, and Tristan knew he would be able to get him back. 

And since it appeared his beautiful pet had healed his shattered heart, it would be twice as satisfying to break him again and finally kill him.

…

“Are you worth it?”

“No, Master Tristan.”

Tristan circled him like a vulture, gently touching the back of his neck. “How’d you wind up in such a sad, sad position?”

Sora ignored him, flashing his eyes around the cave, searching for a way out.

“Because of your master… this redhead.” Tristan stalked up to Kairi, slamming his feet on the floor.

Kairi whimpered, pressing herself back as hard as she could against the wall. Her skin turned white and bloodless with fear. He put his foot down on her thigh and pressed on her hard enough to bruise. Then, he ground the heel of his shoe on her flesh and it split like a ripe peach. She bit her lip, trying valiantly not to whimper or sob in pain. 

“Leave her alone!” Sora shouted.

Tristan stopped in his tracks and turned slowly back to Sora, giving Kairi’s flesh one last grind beneath his heel. “Oh?”

She drew her leg against her chest, whimpering, face twisted in pain. Her hopeless eyes drilled into Sora, desperate and terrified.

“Leave her alone?” Tristan mocked. “Would you rather I torment you, pet?”

“Yes…” Sora whispered. 

“Oh, I forgot, you hate to see people hurt in front of you. Well, how about if you’re the one doing the hurting?!” Tristan grabbed Sora by some of his thick chocolate tresses and dragged him to his feet. With is other hand, he caught Kairi by her hair and yanked her toward him on her knees. Their bodies slammed together and they landed in a heap, Sora on top with his cheek pressed to hers.

“Please, don’t hurt me,” she whispered.

“He doesn’t have a choice,” Tristan snapped. He dragged Sora to his feet and forced a whip into his numbed fingers. 

“You can’t make me do this,” Sora whispered. The whip was wrapped around his arm like a living snake.

Tristan pulled a gun from the waistband of his pants and leveled it at Xion. “I think I can. Beat her or I shoot your raven-haired friend here.”

Sora’s eyes darted between Xion and Kairi, desperate. Then, he lowered his face and slowly unwound the whip from around his arm.

Kairi wanted to beg him not to hurt her, but she couldn’t allow Xion to die. Her arms covered most of her back so she tried to cram them down around her butt, found that she could and made plans to slip them beneath her legs and in front of her later. The first blow of the stinging whip landed across her spine and the pain was like nothing she could ever imagine. Her skin split in a long thin cut and then the stinging of the whip caught up with her damaged flesh. Little black spots danced in her vision and her eyes brimmed with tears. She was still blessedly numb from the first blow when the second landed.

Tristan stood back, watching the pain etched across Sora’s face. He looked like he would much rather be at the receiving end of the whip than be hurting even his hateful master. He allowed the whip to strike the girl’s skin a few more times before giving the word for Sora to stop. 

Sora took a tremulous step towards Kairi, but she was rolled in on herself, whimpering and he couldn’t get close. 

After a moment, Kairi scraped herself together and scooted back against the wall into Xion’s waiting arms. Her face was streaked with blood, sand, and tears. 

“Forgive me,” Sora whispered to her. 

“Oh, I will, if you get on your knees and beg me,” Tristan snapped. “Then, I might even take you back into my home, into my bed.”

Sora’s face shattered, eyes darkening and growing barred. “You will… never take me again!”

Tristan grabbed his gun against and fired a warning shot above Kairi and Xion’s head. The girls ducked, whimpering, as stone and dirt rained down on them.

“Stop! Don’t hurt them!”

Tristan grinned. “Get on your knees, pet.”

This time, Sora’s face showed a play of emotion. He hesitated. This time, he didn’t want to kneel.

“Do it or I’ll shoot the girls.”

Sora got on his knees at Tristan’s feet, lowering his head. There was the sound of a zipper lowering and Tristan fisted his fingers in Sora’s chocolate hair. He didn’t pull his face up, but Sora sensed the lust tightening in the air around him. 

“Suck me.”

He lifted his face, squeezing his eyes tightly shut, and the head of Tristan’s dick bumped his lips. His arms trembled and his shoulders knotted. Hesitantly, he opened his mouth and accepted Tristan into his moist cavern. Tristan fisted both his hands in Sora’s hair, pulling his face back and forth on his dick, pumping it eagerly.

…

Kairi looked on, ignoring the pain in her skin. She remembered what Sora had said about being raped, how it was the worst feeling in the world, and she could only imagine how he felt now. Tristan was pounding fiercely into his mouth and she could hear him gagging on the cock being forced down his throat. If it felt like an eternity for her watching, Sora must have felt like his death had come and gone several times.

Finally, Tristan came, groaning and shuddering. His cock gave little spasms in Sora’s mouth and strings of white cum dripped from the corners of his mouth. Sora looked disgusted, his face twisted into a grimace of pain and sickness. 

Tristan pulled out, wiped himself off, and put himself away. Then, he said, “Give yourself to me, pet, and I will spare your friends.”

“No,” Kairi whispered.

“Deny me and I will kill them, one by one. Give yourself to me, pet.”

…

On his knees at Tristan’s feet, Sora was staring hard at his own fingertips and the long strings of semen dripping from his mouth to pool on the sand. 

By now, his body had healed. If Tristan tore him apart, it would hurt something awful since the last pain he had truly felt was when the shower burned all the flesh from his shoulders. The new skin was tight and itchy, but smooth and flawless. His mistress had finally turned kind, though she had always been kind in the way that she fed and cleaned him. Xion, Roxas, and Namine were so kind from the start, treating him as if he was a real person. 

Sora found himself desperate to protect them, even at the greatest cost to himself. 

But… he didn’t want to return to the broken creature he used to be. He didn’t want to be raped and brutalized again. He didn’t want to go through what he had barely survived once before again. He didn’t want to surrender himself to Tristan. He wanted to keep this life, this painless body, and these people. 

He wanted to be Sora. 

Dying at Tristan’s hands, being torn apart, or being a sacrifice was not in Sora’s plans. 

Not anymore!

His eyes roved, searching for a weapon, for anything he could use.

Roxas was wired, lifted onto his knees, poised to spring. The veins were standing out on Namine’s hands. Her eyes were wide and haunted, reflecting the light. Sora could feel Kairi’s eyes on his back, burning into him, surely remembering his hopeless words from earlier. Xion whispered something and Tristan’s eyes snapped to her. 

In that moment, Sora made the only move he could.

He launched himself at Tristan, catching him in a knee-high tackle. Tristan slammed down on his back in surprise and the two went rolling across the floor. Something stabbed deep into Sora’s side, broke off, and he felt hot blood seeping down his ribs. 

A stalagmite?

Tristan caught him under the chin and his teeth snapped together, white lights exploding behind Sora’s eyes. Dizzy and weak, for a moment, Sora’s grip on Tristan loosened and Tristan scrambled to his feet. He tripped over Selphie’s helpless sprawled body, going down on his face in the sand. 

With a shout, Xion leaped into the fray. Her hands were bound in front of her and she wrapped her knuckles into the same club she had caught Tristan by surprise with earlier. She pounced on his back, striking him over and over. 

For some reason, Selphie leaped to her feet, finding the strength and courage to gather anger at Xion for beating her loving-abusing master. She threw herself at Xion and the two went tumbling in the sand, grappling. There was a lot of yelling and hair-pulling.

Somewhere between Selphie and Xion, Roxas bolted to his feet and got after Tristan. Hands bound in front of him, he got them around Tristan’s throat and jerked his head back in a choke-hold. 

Kairi’s warmth pressed into Sora. She had somehow gotten her hands in front of her body, maybe having wriggled her legs over her wrists since she was female and flexible. There was many a time when Sora wished he was just as flexible to escape such an arrangement of bonds. “Sora, get up,” she whispered. 

Cold hands gripped his upper arms and hauled him upright on his ass. Namine and Kairi were on either side of him, holding him up, supporting him. Something was deep in his side, sucking the breath from his lungs. Namine dug her fingers around it and tore it free, slamming her hand over the deep wound. He hissed in agony and watched the bloody stalagmite rolled through the sand. 

Suddenly, Tristan got a leg up on Roxas and flipped him over. Roxas’s head slammed into the cave wall and his blue eyes rolled up in his head, unconscious. At the same time, Selphie got a good blow in on Xion’s nose and a fountain of blood sprayed between her clutching fingers. 

Then, Selphie went to Tristan’s hands, rubbing against him like an innocent kitten. That strange mix of fear and love was still in her eyes. Tristan wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hauled himself to his feet using her as a support.

“Well, did that feeble little attempt fail you?” Tristan said with a cold laugh. “I guess I’ll have you two girls and my favorite pet as an audience while I play with my beautiful nameless slave.”

Sora cut his eyes to the stalagmite, stained with his blood, and felt Kairi’s fingers trembling around his back. Then, he pushed off the ground, dove for the spike of stone, and was on Tristan before anyone even knew what was happening. With a small cry deep in his own chest because he had never killed anyone before, he plunged the stalagmite between Tristan’s ribs. Warm blood splattered across his throat, running down his face and bare chest. 

Tristan’s eyes widened and he coughed weakly, looking down at where Sora’s hands pressed the makeshift weapon deep. “Y-you killed me…”

“I had to. You would’ve taken everything from me,” Sora whispered.

Tristan grinned. “I did anyway…” 

Sora’s eyes widened and he glanced at his bloodstained body, at the blood on his hands.

Then, Tristan’s eyes slipped shut and he crashed down like a felled tree. There, his lifeblood spread in a pool around him.

Sora hit his knees, staring helplessly at the body of his former master. 

For a moment, Selphie stood beside him, looking on as well. Then, she was like a feral cat, screaming and clawing at Sora’s bared skin. “You killed him! You took him away from me! You took him away!” she screamed and raked her nails down the side of his face.

Xion hit her soundly in the pressure point on the back of her neck and the girl fell like a house of cards. Then, Xion pressed her hands securely to her nose and made a small pained sound deep in her chest. “Mwy fwace hwurts,” she rasped.

“You probably broke your nose,” Namine said softly and went to Roxas’s side. She gently buoyed his upper body in her arms and felt his throat for a pulse. 

Kairi put her hands on Sora’s shoulders, hugging him lightly. “You saved us,” she whispered.

“I killed him…” he whispered.

Kairi felt her heart sputter. He was a slave and he had killed a human. They would murder him like a dog for that.

“We’ll lie. We can say Kairi killed him,” Namine murmured. 

Kairi’s eyes filled. “No. No, we can’t,” she whispered.

“Why nwot?” Xion asked.

“Riku,” Kairi said softly. 

All eyes turned to the rear of the cave. Riku had been the only one not involved in their fight. He was just sitting there, eyes wide and shocked. He had seen everything and there was no way he would ever lie to protect a slave.

“No…”

X X X

I was going to wait to post this, but I decided to put it up as a Thanksgiving present!

In case you haven’t figured it out, there’s more after this. The real climax isn’t about Tristan. It’s about after him!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	18. Parental Harm

Man, I keep writing Yuu instead of Sora. 

Keep in mind that only Kairi knows Yuu is Sora. Everyone else still thinks his name is Yuu, but I’m going to be using Sora in all of his descriptions. Okay?

X X X

With Roxas unconscious, Sora and Xion bleeding something awful, and Kairi’s back torn to shreds, the hike from the beach backup to the school was long and exhausting. Namine and Kairi got Roxas under his arms, heaving most of his weight across their shoulders, but he was dead-weight and incredibly heavy. Xion walked with both hands pressed to her face, trying to staunch the never-ending flow of blood. Selphie was screaming and clawing, threatening to tear anyone who came close to her or dead Tristan up like a feral cat. No nonsense and having faced this before, Sora had soundly bound her wrists behind her back. Then, he used rope to bind the area around his wound, cutting off the blood as well as circulation.

Xion took the lead, bobbing and weaving from side to side as if she was dizzy. Sora followed behind her, dragging Selphie along by her arms while she screamed and struggled and howled like her heart was broken, and clutched weakly at his side. He left a crimson trail behind, staining the white moon-washed sand. Kairi and Namine, half-dragging half-carrying Roxas, hung back in the middle, breathing heavily with exertion. Riku slogged along behind them as if in a state of shock, jade-green eyes wide and unfocused. 

Now, the seven of them were packed into the hospital in a strange combination of police and paramedics. 

Xion was sitting on a gurney, head tilted back, IV drip of pain meds going into her arm. Her nose had been reset and was now taped and braced. She had two black eyes developing and she sounded… kind of like a duck with her nose all stuffed with blood. “Twis is gwood stwuff,” she quacked. “What’s the stweet nwame fwor twis?”

Kairi chuckled lightly as a nurse taped the final pad of gauze across her back. She was stitched up neatly and wrapped tightly in gauze. She looked and felt like a mummy. “Probably morphine,” she said and rubbed her achy thigh. Upon closer inspection, it had turned out to be only a shallow cut that looked much worse than it actually was with the bruises surrounding it.

“What’re ywou waughing wat?”

“You sound like a duck with a cold,” Kairi said and giggled.

Xion made a face and winced at the pain in her nose. “Oww,” she groaned. 

Sitting in a small chair at Roxas’s bedside, Namine was getting the last tiny stitches put into her mouth. Apparently, her teeth had gone right through her lip when Tristan punched her. Finished, she rubbed Roxas’s hand in her own, looking concerned. Roxas had a concussion and they expected him to wake up soon, but there was always some concern to be had when someone was unconscious. 

Sora was sitting cross-legged at Kairi’s feet. Like her, he had been mummified, stitched up and wrapped tight. He looked pale and in pain, but doctors weren’t going to waste any medication on slaves. They had given him a tetanus shot to guard against the infection of being stabbed with stone, but that was all. 

In another room, Selphie had been screaming and shrieking for a long time. Finally, she fell silent, most likely tranquilized. 

Also in another room, Riku was laying like a zombie, arms on top of the covers, eyes wide and unblinking. The doctors said he was in a nasty state of shock. Considering he was unharmed physically, Kairi decided the quarterback was a big ole wimp. 

But, with Riku in such a state they were unable to talk to him. In talking with the police, they had been forced to tell the dark truth.

Sora had killed Tristan. 

A slave had killed a human.

“I think our only hope is if we can get them to pull the file form the court case he told you about,” Namine said to Kairi. “If we can prove that Tristan was a real danger to us, maybe we can get him pardoned in self-defense.”

“I’m a slave. I don’t have a right to defend myself,” Sora said darkly and winced in pain. 

“But, ywou were dwefending Kwairi awnd the rest owf uws,” Xion quacked.

“I probably won’t matter,” Kairi said. “But we are beaten up pretty badly. I mean, Roxas is unconscious and look at Xion’s face.”

“What’s wrong with mwy fwace?”

Ignoring her, Kairi continued, “That may work for us.”

Namine chewed her lip, winced, and stopped. “There’s one big problem.”

“What?”

“Selphie,” Namine said. “She’s been turned by Tristan. Stockholm Syndrome. If she takes the stand and screams that Yuu stole the love of her life from her, he won’t have a chance.”

“But they can discredit her, right? I mean, Tristan beat her up,” Kairi asked.

Namine shrugged. “Maybe they can, maybe they can’t.”

“Bwut thwere’s one thwing thwat cwould gwo either way,” Xion quacked. 

“What?”

“Riku,” Namine said before Xion could. “She’s right. Riku could go either way. He’s kind of a third party here. Tristan didn’t beat him up and he’s not a part of our group. If he testifies, he could help us by being perfectly neutral, but there’s still the matter that the court could go either way.”

“What about Yuna?” Kairi said finally.

“Yuna?” Namine repeated. “Right, we took her to the nurse. Tristan had beaten her, sewn her mouth shut.”

“Riku wouldn’t be neutral anymore.”

“I don’t know. He treated Yuna pretty coldly. He’s not like Roxas,” Namine said and rubbed his cold hand. “That might not change anything.” 

The girls were quiet for a moment, looking at different things in the room. Kairi was looking at Sora’s curved narrow shoulders, watching the small spasms of pain that wracked him. Namine was studying Roxas for signs of waking. And Xion had her eyes crossed, looking down at her mangled nose.

“Well, I think we should get some sleep,” Kairi said. I’m going to ask for some pain killers, but I’m not going to swallow them. After the nurse leaves, I’ll give them to you two,” she said to Namine and Sora. “Okay?”

“You don’t have to. I’m alright,” Namine said.

“It’ll help you sleep.”

After Kairi snuck the pills to her friends and they took them, she settled back against the pillows. Namine laid her head on the mattress beside Roxas’s hip, making herself as comfortable as she could in the stiff chair. Xion snuggled up on her side, hands cupped protectively over her nose and drip still going into her arm. Sora remained on the floor beside Kairi’s bed, legs drawn up against his chest with his arms around them. When she was sure they were asleep, Kairi hung her hands over the edge of her bed and tenderly slid her fingers through the cool of Sora’s hair. He nuzzled her hand, silently confirming that he was still awake. 

“Don’t worry,” Kairi whispered. “You saved us. We’ll make sure nothing bad happens to you.”

He nodded, making a soft sound deep in his chest almost like a purr.

Kairi smiled to herself and started to withdraw her hand.

His voice stopped her, sending a small chill down her spine. “Please… keep touching me…”

“Why?” she whispered, but did slip her fingers back through the silk of his chocolate tresses.

“I keep thinking of all the times Tristan touched me… and how much it hurt. I want to stop thinking about that… So, if it’s not too much trouble, Mistress, could you keep touching me? Just like this?” he begged. His voice sounded so soft, so broken, that she wouldn’t have been able to deny him this if she had wanted to.

“Of course,” she whispered and she did touch him… all night. 

When she woke up in the night to a compassionate nurse putting blankets around Namine’s shoulders and around Sora’s crumpled body, he had wrapped his fingers tightly through hers and was just… holding onto her. It was as if she was his anchor to this world, all that was holding him steady. Gingerly, Kairi tightened her fingers around his and remembered brushing her thumb lightly across his knuckles, back and forth, back and forth, until she fell asleep again.

…

The morning dawned bright and cheerful. The sun was bright and buttery yellow, like a big soft roll. The sky was endless cerulean blue and virtually cloudless. The ocean was cool and calm, deep wine-dark with the lingering promise of silver fish beneath the surface. The big tree outside the hospital room window, full of chattering squirrels and singing birds, reminded Roxas of spring. For a moment, he lay there in bed, trying to remember how he got there. 

When nothing came immediately to mind, he decided to sit up and have a look around. He was definitely in a hospital. The walls were barren white, without pictures or wall paper, and the drapes around the window were hideous pea-soup-green. The door to the hallway was open and Roxas glimpsed a policeman stationed as a guard. There were three televisions mounted on the walls across from three unmade beds with three sleeping figures in them. He recognized Kairi’s spread of cranberry tresses across the pillows of the bed farthest from Roxas, closest to the door. In the middle bed, there was face peeping out between fingers and bandages and a fall of dark hair. Probably Xion with her broken nose. Roxas was in the final bed with Namine slumped at his side, gripping his hands tightly. There were some small stitches in her mouth, but the blood had been cleaned form her skin and she was wearing some clean hospital-issued clothes. He didn’t see Kairi’s Yuu, but he might have been tucked on the other side of Kairi or Xion’s bed. 

Gently, Roxas touched Namine’s shoulder and gave her a small shake. She groaned, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders, and then her blue eyes fluttered open. For a moment, she stared at him, uncomprehending. Then, she sat bolt upright, her mouth opened to shout his name. Roxas quickly covered her mouth since Xion and Kairi and, presumably, Yuu were sleeping only a few feet away.

“Namine, what happened?”

“You hit your head.”

He blinked owlishly at her, blue eyes wide. 

She smiled at him. “You were unconscious. Yuu killed Tristan, it was kind of unexpected, but he stabbed him with a stalagmite. After that, we all made our way back up to the school. Kairi and I dragged you. Once we got there, everyone collapsed in exhaustion. The headmaster called an ambulance and that’s how we got here. You have a concussion.”

“Is everyone okay?”

Namine nodded. “Yes. Xion has a broken nose and she sounds kind of like a duck, but she’s okay.”

“What about Kairi?”

“Fine. Everyone’s fine.”

Then, Namine gave him a quick rundown of everything she, Xion, Kairi, and Yuu had talked about the night before. 

Roxas slumped back against the pillows with a sigh. “It looks pretty bleak,” he said.

Namine nodded, but then threw her arms around his neck suddenly. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she sobbed and her entire body trembled against him.

Gingerly, Roxas wrapped her in his arms, holding her tightly. “I’m sorry I scared you, but I’m alright. We’re all going to be okay.” He gently pushed her back so he could look into her face. Her eyes were red and tear-filled, bright and glassy. Gently, he brushed a single tear away with his thumb and feathered his lips against her cheek. “We’re going to be okay. We’ll make it through this.”

She sobbed, wrapped her arms tightly around him again, and just stayed like that for a long time. Roxas allowed her, cradling her body, until the others began to stir. Only then did he lift her face from his shoulder and encourage her to sit up, but he didn’t push her away as he once would have. 

His reputation didn’t matter right now. 

They had bigger things to worry about.

…

Xion sat up and took a deep breath through her nose. The air whistled a little bit, but at least she could breathe. She cleared her throat and said, “Good morning all,” and was very happy to hear that her voice did not sound Donald Duck-ish in the least. Gleefully, she said, “Listen! Listen! I can talk!”

Kairi pushed her hand through her burgundy tresses and sat up, dragging her hand from Sora’s grasp. He stirred, groaning, and his head popped up over the edge of her bed. “I hear that, Xion. Now shut up,” she snapped. “What time is it?” 

“Almost seven,” Namine said, matter of fact.

“It’s too early,” Kairi groaned and flopped back down against the pillows. 

Xion grabbed her own pillow and lobbed it at Kairi’s head. “Wake up, sleepy head! It’s a brand new day and I have my voice back! I can talk now!”

“You won’t be talking when I’m through with you!” Kairi hurled the pillow back, missed, and smacked Roxas in the face.

“Calm down, calm down, please,” Roxas said, ever the voice of reason, and making shushing motions with his hands. 

Namine giggled. “You’re a mother hen, Roxas,” she said softly. 

“That’s so true!” Xion shouted. “Roxas, mother hen!” 

“Who’d’ve thunk it?!”

Kairi started giggling first. Xion soon followed suit, but her nose made her sound like a bassoon. Then, Namine and Roxas started laughing. The entire room exploded with laughter, leading a few nurses to poke their heads in and check on them. The bed beside Kairi shifted as Sora sat lightly beside her. She turned and offered him a winning smile, still giggling. A true smile graced his face, warm and beautiful, and Kairi felt her heart melt. But Roxas was now squawking how he was NOT a mother hen, waving his arms around, and that was even funnier.

Suddenly, Namine’s lips pressed closed and she lowered her eyes. One moment, Sora was sitting beside Kairi on the bed and, the next, someone grabbed him and he slammed headlong onto the floor, crying out in pain. Kairi half-turned to see what had happened and was swamped in the scent of rose perfume that was all at once soothing and smothering. 

“Mom?” she asked, muffled.

Kairi’s mother was small and round. She was about as wide and she was tall and her cup size was very late-coming in the alphabet, maybe Q-cup. She had close-cropped brown hair that curled beneath her chin and thick red lipstick. She appeared to share not a single feature in common with Kairi from Kairi’s long-limbed slender figure to her deep cranberry tresses to her blue eyes. 

“My poor baby, the school called and told me you were in the hospital!” Kairi’s mother howled and crushed Kairi into the depths of her full breasts. 

“Mom, I’m alright,” Kairi said and struggled against the encroaching cleavage. “Really. Now, can you please let go? You’re hurting my back.”

“Your back? What happened to your back?”

Sora scraped himself off the floor and stood shakily. Xion was watching him, searching for any sign of weakness that might lead him to fall again, but he got to his feet and stayed there. He looked pale and he had a hand pressed securely over the wound in his side, but he stepped back to Kairi’s side patiently.

Kairi’s eyes darted. “How much have you heard?”

“Not much. Just that my baby was hurt.”

“Well, it all started when Selphie was kidnapped from school…” Kairi gave her mother a quick summary of everything that Tristan had put them through, hesitating when she got to the part about her back and decided to skip over it and bring it back up at the end of her story. “And, well, Tristan threatened Xion’s life if Yuu didn’t hurt me so of course he had to—Mom!”

In heartbeat, Kairi’s mother had whirled on Sora where he was standing just beside Kairi. Her red-lacquered nails flashed like blood in the stark fluorescent lighting. She struck him in the face again, knocking him clean over. Sora crashed backwards into Xion’s bed and Xion managed a mad grab for the back of his shirt. 

She hauled him up onto her bed, arms around his waist. “Are you alright?”

He nodded weakly and a small whimper of pain escaped him.

“That nasty slave hurt my baby! Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’ll make sure he can never hurt you again! I’ll have him destroyed like a dog!” Then, Kairi’s mother leaped to her feet, both arms around Kairi’s narrow body, and lifted her off the bed. 

“Wait, Mom!”

Kairi’s mother turned and got into Sora’s face, mouth twisted into a sneer. “I wouldn’t worry about healing from that wound, trash. Your life will be over soon.”

Sora paled, his beautiful eyes wide and fearful. He looked desperately at Kairi, but she was swamped in her mother’s cleavage. 

“Stop it, Mom!” Kairi said and struggled even harder, but she couldn’t get away. 

“Hush, baby. I’ll make sure they take his life from him!” Then, she whirled on her low heel and stalked away, carrying Kairi wrapped in her thick trunk-like arms. 

Xion, Roxas, Namine, and Sora could only watch as Kairi was dragged away from them. 

Suddenly, the prospect of saving Sora’s life looked even more difficult than it had last night. If Kairi’s mother raised a big stink, there would be nothing they could do to stop her. 

“It’ll be okay,” Xion lied, still gripping Sora’s body tightly to her. 

He struggled away and slumped down on the floor. His shoulders were curled in, trembling lightly, and his fingers were clenched into tight fists. Some blood was seeping through his shirt, running over his fingers and down his side. The side of his face was already darkening with thick swollen bruises where Kairi’s mother had struck him. 

Only a moment later, two big security guards marched in, grabbed Sora under his arms, hauled him to his feet, and dragged him away. Down the hall, they could hear Kairi’s mother yelling how Sora should be destroyed and Kairi protesting valiantly, though she was drowned out by her mother. 

Roxas, Namine, and Xion watched as he was taken away. 

There was nothing they could do.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	19. Thrown Away

Here we go, nothing to say!

X X X

With Kairi’s mother leading the entourage against Sora, she was like an unstoppable force, like a mother Grizzly Bear whose cub had been threatened. She was all claws and fangs and ignorant words, quickly turning the jury to her side with thoughts of these same events happening to their own children. Though Kairi, Roxas, and Xion had protested valiantly, trying over and over again to tell the court what had really happened and how Sora had done what he could under the circumstances to protect them. Riku, surprisingly, had sat on the stands like a robot, saying exactly what he had seen and exactly what had happened to the letter.

But, regardless of anything they had said or done, within a week, Sora was sentenced to die.

…

On the horizon, the sun was sinking low, painting the sky deep obscure crimson. The ocean was a sheet of endless mirrored black. Kairi was sitting in the window seat in her bedroom, gently working the quilt she had given Sora to keep warm in between her fingertips. The colors stained her face, making her look like a demon or an angry angel. Finally, the last rays of sun slipped below the curve of the ocean and darkness descended the earth like a heavy cloak. No stars peeked through and the moon was sufficiently smothered. It was as black as the abyss outside her window, like her heart.

In the dark, Kairi stripped of her court clothes. She had been too tired and depressed to change when she came back from the courthouse. By now, her depression had turned to anger and frustration. She pulled on heavy black jeans, a long-sleeved black shirt, low-heeled thick-soled black boots, and finally black leather gloves. Then, she scraped her hair back into a ponytail and stuffed all the money she had into her bra. 

Kairi savored one last look at her dorm, at the place she had grown up and the view she was so used to looking at, and was about to leave when there was a knock at the door. Startled, for a moment, she wasn’t sure whether to answer or to pretend she didn’t hear it. 

Then, Roxas’s voice reached her form the other side. “Kairi, I know you’re in there. Open up. I have to talk to you,” he said.

Kairi pulled open the door and was shocked to find Roxas and Namine standing on the other side, dressed all in black as she was. For a moment, they stood there stupidly, just staring at each other, mouths open.

“W-what are you two doing?” Kairi asked. 

“What are you doing?” Roxas countered. 

Kairi bit her lip and considered lying for a moment, but these were her friends. “I can’t let them kill him. I’m going to break him out,” she confessed.

“What?!” Roxas shouted. 

Kairi wrinkled her brow. “What do you mean what?”

Roxas stood there, mouth open, making small gasping sounds. He looked like a fish out of water. 

“Um, that was what we were going to do,” Namine said softly. 

Again, they stared at each other, mouths agape.

“What?” Kairi said. “Why?”

“He’s my…” Roxas’s blue eyes darted and he wrung his long white fingers. “He’s my brother.”

“Y-your brother?”

“Yes,” he whispered. “I’ve been looking for him all my life and now that I’ve finally found him, I cannot allow him to die.”

“Your brother…” Kairi repeated. 

“Yes. His name is—”

“Sora,” Kairi finished.

“I thought he would tell anyone. How’d you know?”

“He told me.”

Roxas’ s mouth twisted into a wry smile. “He loves his name. He trusted you enough to tell you.”

They smiled at each other, glowing with warmth. 

“Hey, how long are you two dopes going to stand there gawking at each other?” Xion’s voice cut through the silence like a knife. They turned to see her leaning on the wall beside them, dressed in black with her dark hair loose around her face. 

“You too, Xion?” Roxas asked.

“Of course,” she said almost cheerfully. “He saved my life. I’m not letting him go down without a fight.” 

“Good,” Roxas said. “Alright, let’s go. We can take my car.”

Kairi turned off the lights in her room, closed, and locked the door. Then, she followed Xion, Namine, and Roxas down the hall. Life after this wouldn’t be pretty, but they were choosing it for themselves. The ocean might have been a slave to the moon, but she would wear away the beach until the end of time. No one was more a slave, unable to influence anything around it, than the endless sands. They weren’t about to be the sand any more. 

…

Little did they know, standing just around the corner, tucked in the shadows as if they offered him safety, Riku Shark lurked and waited and watched. 

He was watching them leave, eyes wide, as if wondering what a slave could possess that would lead three well-off students to throw everything away. 

His silver hair gleamed dully, lackluster, and he looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. There were dark circles beneath his jade-green eyes, far-seeing and blank. They were more glass marbles than eyes. He was dressed in worn stone-washed jeans and washed-out long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves pushed up. The veins stood out on his hands and arms, fingers curled into tight white fists. He was so colorless, so bleak, that he looked like a wraith, like a troubled drowned ghost. 

At his side, jeans hanging low on her hips and ragged blouse clutched around her shoulders, Yuna with her mouth still scarred cruelly by the stitching stood at his side. Her skin was flushed with color and her body was less skeleton-thin. She had showered recently, making her brown hair soft and chocolaty. Other than the scars on her face, she looked untouched and uninjured, beautiful almost. 

“They really love him,” she whispered.

Riku cut his eyes at her and she flinched, but did not cower. Being with Tristan had given her some strength and understanding that Riku could’ve been worse to her. She twisted a lock of brown hair around her finger, watching Kairi’s long shadow disappear down the stairwell. 

“Are we following them, Master?” she asked.

Riku didn’t answer her. 

He just watched them go and wondered.

…

Sora wrapped his arms around his legs, drawing them tightly against his chest and burying his face in them. A small sliver of cool silver moonlight streamed in through the little window, bathing him in softness. It wouldn’t be there for long, though. The sky was thick with clouds and it was only happenstance that allowed the moon to peek out. Then, the world would become an abyss outside again, all-consuming and dark. He shivered in his little cell, hugging himself tighter and trying to staunch the small sound of pain that wanted to escape him.

If being a slave was bad, then being a slave in jail was worse. 

He couldn’t count how many guards and cops had come in and beaten him just for fun and sport. The wound in his side was split open again, oozing thick blood. He hadn’t eaten since he had been taken from that hospital room, from Kairi and the others. 

Pain, hunger, and torment had wrapped their claws into him once again.

But, this time, escape was on the horizon. 

Death awaited him.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	20. All These Lives

Alright, this is the turning point chapter!

Surprisingly, I got the entire idea for this story just form listening to Daughtry’s song “All These Lives” and the story has curiously little to do with the song. But, if you want to listen to it while you read, be my guest!

X X X

All these lives preparing to change forever, like a butterfly pushing from the cocoon. 

Kairi, Roxas, Namine, and Xion were standing in the dark parking lot of the boarding school on the cliffs. It looked as if they had been sucked into a tar pit, only small traces of exposed white skin and glowing jewel blue eyes showing the black abyss of darkness. The darkness was completely consuming, like dark living velvet, seeping over them. The only sound was the distant wash of the ocean and their whispered conversation. 

It was still, like the breath before the plunge.

They were about to leave this life behind forever. Once they did this, they could never come back. They would be outcasts, like the people they heard about on the news. They would be the people that freed slaves and attacked traders and burned down Slave Centers. 

They would be the rebellion. 

Kairi glanced at the friends that surrounded her. They had been surrounding her since her night of need at the Winter Dance. It was so strange that Riku being a dick had pushed her right into the arms of such beautiful wonderful people. That seemed so long ago and so silly now. It was ridiculous how she had cried because of Riku’s prank and Selphie’s betrayal. Now, Selphie was broken beyond repair and Riku was catatonic. 

Kairi had made it through in once piece, but her beautiful-ugly Sora hadn’t. He had sacrificed himself for her, for all of them.

It was strange how all these lives had been touched by one singular worthless slave, the nameless slave she had hated. They had been touched enough that they were leaving their comfortable lives behind forever, for her and for Sora. And Sora, who had held only his own name close and treasured, had sacrificed himself for them. He had come to care for them. It was amazing how he had touched all their lives. They couldn’t allow him to die, not after all they had been through together and all he had done for them.

“Let’s take my car,” Xion suggested, twirling her keys around her finger. 

They all glanced at Xion’s car. It was sleek and black and… a veritable tank! Atomic missiles couldn’t take out that car. Hell, missiles wouldn’t even scratch it. It was very high-profile, noticeable and memorable and indestructible.

“Yeah, no,” Roxas dragged out.

Xion stuck her tongue out at him and shoved her keys deep into her back pocket. 

“We can’t take my car. It’s too small,” Kairi interjected before they could have it out. “It’s only a two-seater.”

Roxas smiled. “We’ll take my car. I have a station wagon,” he said. 

“You’re so practical,” Xion said with a laugh.

“That’s me. Practical Mother Hen Roxas Strife,” he said with a small roll of his blue eyes.

Namine patted him lightly on the back. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “We’d be lost without you.”

“Har har,” he said.

Then, the four of them piled into Roxas’s station wagon, loading up baggage and supplies. They had a big red First Aid Kit, a small travel bag of clothes and assorted toiletries each, pillows and blankets, brown bags full of food and a case of water, and practical Roxas with a few air mattresses, sleeping bags, and a big tent. Roxas also had an extra can of gas in the back of his car.

Roxas slid behind the wheel, Kairi in the passenger seat, and Xion and Namine in the backseat. Kairi brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, leaning forward and gripping her knees. Namine’s white face and pale hair glowed in the dark, reflecting in the rearview mirror. Roxas looked equally pale and haunted, blue eyes desperate with the fear of losing the brother he had just found. Xion was the only one who turned and looked back at the glowing boarding school in the cliffs. She was the only one who was actually leaving something behind. The rest of them were going into the future, desperate to reclaim something they had lost. But Xion only looked back for a moment, a testimony to how strong and secure she was. She had no fear of losing everything. Then, she turned back, facing forward again with a broad white smile on her face.

…

Sora was sitting in his cell, quiet and nervous and trying to ignore the warm blood running down the side of his face. His lip was split and his eye was beginning to swell shut. Shivering, he hugged his legs tightly to his chest and buried his face in them. He was beginning to think the last days of his life would end like this—being beaten to pulp before finally being put to blessed death. He was impatient for death, for his escape. 

His only regret was beating in his chest like a second heartbeat. He wished he could see his mistress, Kairi, one final time. He had trusted her with his name and he wanted to hear her saying at least one more time. He wanted someone to speak his name to him before he died. He was becoming so desperate for that that he almost wanted to tell the guards so they could scream it at him rather than trash or filth or worthless slave. But he would never want someone like them to know his beautiful name. 

Sniffling, he dug his fingers into his shoulders, trying to staunch the urge.

Then, there was a sound at his window. 

A knock. 

A small rap.

He lifted his head, turning to look. A collection of blue eyes stared in at him, as bright as stars, and for a moment he didn’t believe what he was seeing. Then, he recognized Kairi’s pretty face framed by her tresses of soft cranberry hair with a dark beanie slouched low over her head. He had only glimpsed her at the courthouse a few days earlier, encased in the fat arms of her mother, struggling and shouting claims of his innocence. 

He felt his lips curve into a small hopeful smile. It seemed that before he died, she had come to see him one last time, to speak his name. “Mistress?”

She knocked on the window again, catching his attention and smiling. “Listen, Sora, get ready. We’re going to break the window, hoist you out, and make a quick getaway. Alright?”

His eyes widened. “You can’t do that for me. You’ll be—”

“We know,” she said.

“We?”

“Yes. Roxas, Namine, and Xion are here with me,” Kairi said. “Now, get ready.” 

Then, she stepped aside and Roxas’s pale face gleamed in the faint light. He hauled back, a crowbar in his hands, and shattered the window. Then, long pale white arms clad in black were shoved in through the small opening. There was a mess of shouting and blaring alarms down the hallway and the sound of running feet.

“Come on!” Kairi shouted. 

He stretched up, gripping the hands offered to him, relishing the warm skin on his ice-cold flesh. They dragged him up easily and a few shards of glass cut into his waist as he turned through the space. He landed flat on his back in the thick springy grass and he took a moment, winded, to stare at the sky. He was shocked that he was really free, that they had risked everything like this to save him. 

Then, Xion was hauling him up under his arms. “Get up!” She shoved him onto his feet. Kairi caught him around the waist, half-dragging him. 

The five of them stumbled into Roxas’s station wagon, doors slamming open and them slamming shut. Roxas laid rubber as they peeled out of the parking lot, but it was over. The police wouldn’t waste funds searching for a slave. He was as good as free and they were as good as dead.

…

Riku was parked in the dark shadow of the police precinct, watching them. 

They were like ghosts, sneaky slips of white skin and blue eyes darting in the shadows. They covered the exterior security cameras and stationed Roxas’s pale blonde slave as a guard. Then, they were hunkered around the window, whispering, for a short time. Then, they shuffled, making way for Roxas and his crowbar. The glass exploded, shards of glass flying away like misplaced stars into the night, shooting away. As if choreographed, Roxas fell back, whirling to get behind the wheel of his station wagon. Kairi and Xion shoved their arms through the broken window, heedless of the glass. For a moment, they hung there, suspended, waiting. Then, they dragged Kairi’s nameless slave through the broken window and dropped him onto the grass. His face was etched in permanent shock and surprise. He would never truly believe that these good humans had sacrificed their comfortable lives just to free him, a useless slave. Xion heaved him under his arms, shouting at him. Then, they scattered like roaches under too much lights, safe in Roxas’s station wagon before the police even came bouncing out of their redbrick building. 

They disappeared into the night.

Again, Riku turned over his engine and doused his headlights, following them in the pitch dark as he had since they left the school. In the passenger seat beside him, belted in securely, Yuna gripped the dashboard in white-knuckled fingers. She had good reason to. Riku was driving like a maniac, taking vicious turns in the dark, following a route he didn’t know… following a car full of rebellious ghosts that vanished into the night as easily as a wisp of smoke. 

Riku took another turn on two wheels, snapping Yuna against her seatbelt. She dug her nails into the sideboard, gripping it desperately. The car came down hard and she snapped was against the window with a loud sharp sound. Tenderly, she cupped her shoulder in her palm, nursing the developing bruise.

“Master?” she questioned again.

But, as before, he did not answer her.

…

Sora was sandwiched between Xion and Kairi in the backseat. Namine and Roxas looked like angels in the front seats, glowing pale white, slowly peeling off layers of black to reveal pale skin. Beside him, Kairi’s limbs touched him as she peeled off her night-black sweater. Beneath it, she was wearing a pale pink tank top that allowed the swell of her breasts to spill over the top. Xion unzipped her hoodie, tossing it over the back of the seat. 

“I cannot believe that worked so perfectly,” Xion breathed.

“Neither can I,” Roxas agreed. 

They collapsed into faint amicable chatter. Namine slumped against the window, gathering Roxas’s jacket against her chest. Then, she closed her eyes and appeared to fall asleep, breath deep and even, eyes darting beneath pale smooth lids. 

“She was up all night last night,” Roxas whispered. “She was convincing me to do this.”

“And she managed,” Xion murmured. Then, she too leaned comfortably against the window and closed her eyes. She was all caramel skin and dark fudgy clothing in the shadows. She looked like a sundae, sweet and tasty, and sleeping so easily. After a small moment, she began to snore.

With only Roxas’s eyes open now and focused on the road, Kairi decided that she could speak to Sora as if they were alone. Besides, Roxas was Sora’s brother, though it was not Kairi’s place to tell him that, and she was sure they would soon be sharing all kinds of secrets. Gingerly, she stretched out her arms and enveloped Sora’s narrow shoulders in her grasp, hugging him tightly against her chest. Surprisingly, he pressed easily against her, almost eagerly. 

“Sora,” she whispered.

A pleasant shiver went through his body, coursing into her flesh. “I wished for you in my cell,” he whispered before he could think to stop himself. “I wished to hear someone say my name one last time before I died.”

“You won’t be dying anytime soon,” Kairi whispered and threaded her fingers through his hair. One side of his head was caked in thick blood and she felt his shoulders curl with pain beneath her fingers. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you cleaned up and we’ll get out of this place. After this, no one will hurt you again.”

His twig-thin arms went around her waist and timidly held her against him. She felt him begin to tremble, shivering and shuddering like a fallen bird. She hushed him, rubbing his back gently with the flat of her palm. His breath was warm and moist on the side of her throat. 

“Thank you, Mistress, for this,” he whispered.

She didn’t know what to say to him because at that moment, she felt the first brush of a soft kiss on the pounding pulse of her throat. Her first instinct was to shove him away, but the soft tingling sensation that went through her body was too sweet. It was nothing like when Riku had kissed her or even fucked her. This was something else, something soft and innocent and full of desperate gratitude. Then, as swiftly as he had feathered his lips on her throat, he put space between them, resting his forehead on her bare shoulder. His breath was light and warm on her collarbone, stirring the ends of her hair. 

“Thank you,” he whispered again.

Then, his body grew soft and limp and heavy against her as he slipped into an exhausted sleep. Kairi cradled him in her arms, unsure of where to proceed from here. The feelings she was beginning to have for Sora… the prospect of his death frightened her, his imprisonment sickened her, and those cerulean eyes of his burned into her heart. She didn’t want to see him… suffer anymore, out of control of his life and his body, in pain, coated in blood. 

She was tired. 

“Roxas,” she whispered, arranging Sora’s body in her arms, holding him tightly. “I think we should stop for the night. Stay in a cheap motel or something.”

“Yes, I think so too,” he murmured. “Next one I see, I’ll stop. We can get one room with two queen sized beds.”

Kairi nodded and rested her cheek on the top of Sora’s head. His hair was soft where it wasn’t clotted with blood. He smelled of fear and blood and the salt of the sea. 

_The ocean is a slave…_

“Not anymore,” she felt her lips whisper. “No one will hurt you anymore.” 

In his sleep, Sora stirred, pressing closer to her. His fingers wrapped through her shirt, clutching her. He made a small sound deep in his chest, almost a whimper and almost a sigh.

Kairi turned and looked out the window, gazing at the passing scenery. The night was clearing, filling the sky with stars as if someone had overturned a bottle of diamonds onto a gown of black velvet. The moon was like a big glowing broach in the sky, shining with a heartbeat of its own. It was strange not to hear the sea so close like a constant song. 

When Roxas finally pulled into the dark parking lot of a seedy motel with two letters of its neon sign out and dark, Kairi was still awake, but barely. He went to the front desk, bought them a room, and returned to the station wagon. Roxas opened Xion’s door carefully, catching her before she could spill across the pavement and putting her on her feet. 

Xion blearily rubbed her blue eyes. “What’s going on?”

“We’re stopping for the night,” Roxas explained and reached across the seat to give Kairi a small shake.

“I’m awake,” Kairi said and gently hefted Sora. He was too heavy for her alone, though. 

“Good, I’m going to get Namine and then I’ll come back out for you.”

“I could wake him up.”

“But you don’t need to. He probably hasn’t slept in days,” Roxas said. “I’ll come back out.”

“Alright,” Kairi whispered. 

She stayed in the car with Sora while Roxas carried Namine and half-lead Xion into the room he had rented. Within a few moments, he returned, lifted Sora gently from Kairi’s arms, and carried him away. Kairi locked up the vehicle and followed after him. Then, she closed the motel door behind herself with a solid thud.

The room was hideous and decorated all in shades of pea-soup-green. It would have reminded her of the hospital room they had spent the night in after Tristan had hurt them except it was smelly and filthy. Roxas had already peeled the disgusting spreads off the beds and pulled down the sheets. Namine and Xion were lying on one bed with a good sized space between them. Xion was still wearing her shoes, looking like she had just crashed. Namine was curled up on her side, pale hair spread across the pillows. Roxas laid Sora on the other bed, watching as his brother’s limp slender body draped across the mattress like a ragdoll, but he only stood there for a moment before turning away. He pulled off Xion’s shoes and hoisted her legs onto the bed. Then, he carefully moved Namine closer to Xion and slipped into the bed beside her.

“Kairi, will you turn off the lights?” 

“Yes.”

Kairi toed off her shoes and sat on the edge of the bed beside Sora. Then, she twisted the knob of the lights and the darkness consumed the room except for a small ribbon of light seeping in around the greasy drapes. She slipped over Sora’s body and pressed against his back, draping her arm across his waist. She pressed her nose into his back, inhaling the strange scent of him. Then, her eyes fluttered closed and she allowed sleep to wrap her in its tight dark arms. 

In the dark, Sora’s eyes eased open and her gently ran his fingertips down the smooth expanse of Kairi’s bared skin. In the bed across from them, he could see the faint silhouettes of Roxas, Namine, and Xion’s sleeping forms. Then, he returned his attention to Kairi’s warmth pressing against him, seeping into him. He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept in a bed. It seemed so strange. Only hours before, he had been waiting for his own death and now, he was lying in bed with his mistress, safe and warm. 

Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, he became a butterfly.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	21. Aftershock: Pt I

I actually wrote most of this chapter a while ago, for chapter 12 or so, but I’m just putting it in now so you can see how far back… certain events… got pushed. The whole ending it new, though. So, please, enjoy!

X X X

When Namine woke up, she was wrapped securely in Roxas’s arms. His breath was light and sweet on her face and his body was blessedly warm. After taking a quick glance around the room, she snuggled back into Roxas’s arms. Xion was still asleep, sprawled with her limbs hanging over the edge of the bed and snoring loudly. In the other bed, Kairi was wrapped around Sora’s body and his back was to Namine so he could have been either awake or still sleeping. She couldn’t tell. Namine just lay in bed, relishing the feel of Roxas’s body pressed against hers and his warmth around wrapped tightly around her. Finally, though it was time to get up. She untangled herself from Roxas’s arms, enjoying the way his brow wrinkled and his fingers gripped the sheets in search of her. She turned on all the lights in the room and pulled back the drapes, waking up her sleeping companions.

Kairi groaned and sat up, hair a mess around her head like a crimson halo. Roxas groaned and rolled over, facing the light and squinting at Namine. Sora’s eyes slid open easily, as if he had already been awake and darted around the room as if to make sure he was indeed not dreaming. Xion simply shoved her head under a pillow, ignoring the bright light and grumbling something sour under her breath.

Roxas blinked blearily, mumbling, “What’s going on?”

“It’s almost ten. I figured we should be getting up,” Namine said.

“Right…”

Namine was the first to get moving and begin to go about her morning ritual. (The others soon followed suit, rolling out of bed like a troop of shambling zombies. Xion needed a yank. Roxas had pulled all the covers off her and shoved her onto the floor.) She began brushing her soft platinum blonde hair at the window, looking out on the bleak empty parking lot, with her dark heavy clothing hugging the curvature of her body. 

Sora was sitting at the foot of his bed, drying his chocolate hair with a towel. He had showered first and then Namine had carefully stitched the gash at the side of his face shut with small precise stitching. He ran a hand over his own hair, looking at her sheepishly, and she stepped up to him. Tenderly, she ran her brush through is hair, smoothing the damp chocolate tresses against his cheeks. 

It was time to take matters into her own hands…

She waited until Roxas, Xion, and Kairi crammed themselves into the bathroom and the water started running before she began to speak. 

She was a fellow slave to Sora. There was no mincing of words and no secrets.

“Do you remember much from your old life?”

“Which one?” he asked and tilted his head back into her warm hands. 

“The original. You don’t look like you were born a slave. You’re too broken for that. You tasted freedom,” she whispered.

“I used to have a family and a brother,” he confessed after a moment’s hesitation.

“A brother, you said that so specifically. He must have been important to you.”

“He was. He was my world,” Sora whispered. “My parents were going to sell him… instead of me. I made them switch us, sell me into this life instead of him. I couldn’t let him turn into this… into me…”

“Why?”

“He was my little brother. I had to protect him. I promised I would always protect him.” He made a small broken sound in his throat. “He was so innocent.” After a moment, he barked a small laugh. “He was such a moron. If it wasn’t for bad luck, he’d have no luck at all, but he was so sweet…” 

“What was his name?”

He was silent for a long moment and Namine craned her neck to see his face. His cerulean eyes were full of tears, brimming over but refusing to fall. 

“You don’t remember, do you?” she whispered.

He shook his head and desperately pulled away from her. “No,” he sobbed, voice cracked and broken. “I sacrificed everything for my brother and I can’t even remember his name. I don’t even know if he remembers me or what I did for him.” He dug his fingers into the scars on his wrists. “I suffered so much for him.”

Namine gripped his shoulders and gave him a small shake. “Do you want to see your brother again?”

He pulled away from her. “You can’t give me that,” he whispered. 

“Yes, I can.”

His wide cerulean blue eyes turned to Namine, soft and trusting, beautiful and everything Roxas described. His eyes were everything she saw in Roxas’s gaze every day, all trust and heartbreaking hope and a tinge of fear. “You can’t,” he whispered. He looked like he was falling, like the rug was about to be yanked from beneath his feet. 

“I can,” she repeated and dug her fingers into him as he tried to pull away. “Roxas is your brother.”

“How could you…?”

“He’s been looking for you. He’s been looking forever.”

His face was all at once flushed and pale. He began to tremble like a leaf, like a small broken bird. 

“Roxas is your brother…” Namine took a deep breath. This was her truth, her proof. “Roxas is your brother, Sora. He’s your brother.”

…

Kairi was leaning over the vanity, brushing her teeth, while Xion absently combed her dark hair. Her eyes were dark and haunted-looking, like she was in a nightmare. Behind them, naked flesh gleaming in the light, Roxas stepped from the shower and swiftly wrapped a towel around his waist so as not to flash the girls. He shook his head, water droplets flying everywhere off his soft blonde spikes, and then he bent close to the mirror and sculpted the tresses into spikes with his fingers.

“Does that count as styling?” Kairi asked around her toothbrush.

Roxas grinned. “Depends on how it dries. I might need to tap some gel into it,” he explained. 

Then, the door exploded open and a blur that would moments later be defined as Sora barreled into the room. He leaped at Roxas and flung his arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly. For a moment, Roxas stood there, stunned, lightly resting his palms on Sora’s trembling back. 

Namine appeared in the threshold, looking guilty and relieved. “I told him,” she said plainly and looked right at Roxas.

The muscles in Roxas’s arms bunched and rippled as he tightened his grip. “You told him? What did you tell him?”

“Everything,” she murmured.

In the background, Xion looked on, confused. “Wait,” she interjected. “What’s going on?”

Roxas rubbed Sora’s back gently. “This is my brother, Xion. The brother I’ve been looking for all my life,” he whispered.

Xion dropped her comb with a clatter as if her fingers had suddenly become numb, but no one even looked at her. 

All eyes were on Roxas and Sora. 

“Could you, um, give us a minute?” Roxas asked the girls. “Maybe explain this to Xion?”

Kairi nodded and wrapped her arm around the back of Xion’s waist, leading her from the bathroom. Namine closed the door softly behind them and Roxas heard them begin talking in hushed voices, whispering and exclaiming. Then, he heard a crash and assumed Xion had either tripped and fallen or fainted. But then, Roxas turned his attention back to his brother, to his Sora.

“Sora,” Roxas began, but he couldn’t get any more words out. 

Sora pulled back from him, gripping his shoulders tightly. “Y-you’re my brother,” he whispered. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.” 

“I’ve been looking for you, Sora,” Roxas murmured. “I’ve never stopped looking for you.”

“Why?”

“Our parents sold you! I couldn’t leave you! I had to find you!”

“I asked them to sell me,” Sora gasped and then his legs buckled beneath him. He slid down Roxas’s body, crumpling like wet paper at his brother’s feet. He dug his fingers into the cold tile and a shiver went through him. “I asked them to…” 

Roxas knelt with him, cradling Sora’s skull-like shoulders in his hands. “You what?”

“Yes, I asked them to sell me. They were going to sell you and I couldn’t let you—” Sora’s eyes swelled with tears and a single diamond rolled down his cheek. 

Roxas wrapped both arms around Sora and hugged him close. “You did that… for me? Why?”

“You’re my little brother,” Sora sobbed. 

Roxas cradled him, realizing that his big brother was now so much smaller than him. Sora’s body was undernourished, starved, and abused. He was nothing but pale papery skin and broken bones and scars, fear and anguish and pain. He was a tormented creature. This young man in his arms was nothing like the image of the beautiful musician wrapped in chains looking back at Roxas from the threshold of the doorway of their childhood home. All that was the same between them was the eyes. Those beautiful cerulean eyes that had been watching Roxas all his life, looking back at him in the mirror, in pictures, in memories. But it didn’t matter how Sora was now. All that mattered was that Roxas had his brother back. 

He finally had his brother back. 

…

Within the hour, the five of them were showered, dressed, and ready for the day. Kairi and Namine had explained everything to Xion and she was more than ready to accept Sora into a suffocating hug. If one thing could be said about Xion, it was that she easily rolled with the punches. Stepping out of the motel room and into the sunlight, Kairi noticed something she hadn’t noticed before.

Riku’s sports car. 

In it, Riku was sleeping in the front seat, head lolled back and mouth open. He had a string of drool running down his face. He looked stiff and uncomfortable. Beside him in the passenger seat, Yuna was sitting up with her legs crossed neatly Indian-style on the seat. She looked up when Kairi approached and gave her a small smile and a little finger wave.

“Yuna?” Kairi asked through the glass. 

Riku woke with a start, exploding up in his seat. His jade eyes were wide and startled, like deer in the headlights. 

For a moment, he and Kairi did nothing but stare at each other, unsure of what exactly to do now. 

Then, Xion bounced over, dark hair feathering around her face. “Kairi? What are you—oh, shit! It’s Shark! It’s Riku!” she shouted. She fell over herself in a heap on the pavement, landing first on her ass and then flat on her back, winded.

Roxas and Namine came up behind her. 

“What the heck are you doing, Xion?” Roxas asked. Then, he too laid eyes on Riku and reacted much in the same way without the cursing or falling over on his ass.

“Riku?” Namine asked plainly. “And Yuna?”

“Have you been following us?” Kairi demanded, heaving open the driver’s side door. 

Riku tumbled out. He was a far cry from the hunk Kairi had been chasing back at school. He looked like he hadn’t slept or eaten in days. He had dark circles beneath his green eyes and his lips were chapped. His designer clothing was hanging off his frame. “I wasn’t—”

“You were! How did you find us?!” Kairi shouted at him. 

“Please, listen—”

“No! How long have you been following us?” she continued shouting. 

Then, Sora pushed between his friends, gently laying a hand on Kairi’s bare shoulder and turning her away from Riku. His cerulean eyes were red-rimmed and he had stitches at his temple, but other that, he looked alright. He didn’t say anything to Riku, just gazed at him for a long moment. 

“I…” Riku began, choking out his words as if each was a shard of his soul that he didn’t want to lose. “I had to know why,” he confessed. “I had to know why they would risk everything for you, for a slave.”

Sora nodded, his eyes soft and jewel-bright. 

Roxas put his hand on Sora’s shoulder. “He’s my brother. I’ve been looking for him forever. I’m not going to lose him now,” he said firmly. 

“I go where he goes,” Namine whispered and gently hooked her fingers through Roxas’s elbow. He covered her hand with his own.

Kairi’s face and voice was full of rage, hatred, and anger though she had no good reason to snarl at Riku. Their bad blood was long since washed away by the river of time. “He saved my life. I’m not going to let them kill him when he saved us,” she snapped, breathing hard and loud.

Other than that sound, for a moment, they were all silent. 

Then, all eyes turned to Xion. “Hey, I’m just along for the ride,” she said finally.

“For a slave,” Riku whispered and lowered his eyes. 

“No,” Kairi said softly. All her rage drained from her at the sight of Riku’s crumpled lowered stature. “For a friend…”

“For a friend,” Riku repeated quietly. Then, he lifted his face and Kairi saw that his green eyes were filled with tears. 

Kairi gasped, stepping back as if in fear.

“I can help you,” he whispered. 

“How?” Roxas asked.

“I’ll take you to my sister,” Riku whispered. “She’s second-in-command, a leader of the slave rebellion.”

“Your sister?” Kairi repeated. She couldn’t help but being shocked at the thought of Riku, slave-hating cruel and vicious Riku Shark, had a sister second-in-command in leading the slavery rebellion. But then again, life was often funny that way. “Your sister.”

X X X

Guesses at who Riku’s sister is?

Questions, comments, concerns?


	22. The Rebellion

Well, SasuTenLuvr was the only one who figured out who Riku’s sister was. Congrats! 

I had some interesting guesses though. Mainly consisting of Aerith, Tifa, and Lightning. I’m not sure exactly who Lightning is, but a lot of people thought of her. It can’t be Aerith because she’s the nurse at the boarding school, remember? And Tifa, well, I honestly didn’t think of her. There’s also a lot of Rikku being Riku’s sister… but I think that would get REALLY CONFUSING. 

So, without further ado…

X X X

After a day’s journey of following Riku’s snappy sports car in Roxas’s mom-mobile, Riku brought them to a strange old-fashioned city. It had cobblestone streets and wooden gold-embossed sighs dangling on hooks above doorways announcing businesses. There were a lot of big old-fashioned amber streetlamps that were beautifully decorated and glowing with faint flickering light on the sides of the streets. The buildings were many-sized with red terracotta tile roofs and big glowing amber windows. There were a few people out on the streets, shopping and strolling, laughing amicably. The town was mostly quiet and still. There was a lot of commotion coming from the tavern on the corner and two brawling men stumbled out the doors, grappling and rolling around in the street. 

“What is this place?” Xion asked, gazing around.

“Traverse Town,” Roxas said before Riku could say anything. He wrapped his arm around Namine’s shoulders and drew her closer as they passed the brawling men. 

“How do you know, smarty pants?” Xion asked. 

“Because I didn’t sleep through my Geography class my sophomore year,” Roxas said with a roll of his eyes.

“Oh yeah,” Xion smiled dreamily. “Good times…”

“So, Riku, where’s this sister of yours?” Roxas asked.

“I don’t know,” he confessed. 

“What do you mean, you don’t know? How are we going to find her?”

“She’ll find us,” was all Riku said. 

They continued walking down the streets aimlessly, absorbing the sights. They didn’t stick out here, even though Yuna and Sora were clearly slaves with their scars and skeleton-thin bodies. Kairi, Xion, and Roxas didn’t blend in particularly well in the setting back at the boarding school, but here no one even spared them a passing glance. Riku’s low eyes and hunched shoulders made him look like a shambling zombie. 

Then, suddenly, a slender silhouette leaped down from a nearby rooftop, landing in a crouch in front of them. “I know you’re looking for me. Follow me. We can talk once we’re out of sight.”

Though Kairi and the others were nervous about following a strange girl into a dark alley, Riku followed her readily. With nothing else to do, they lagged along behind and were swallowed by the shadows of the darkening city.

…

Yuffie Kisaragi was brazen, loud, cocky, and rebellious.

And she was mostly exposed skin. She was clad in extremely short orange shorts with the fly unbuttoned and unzipped. Around her hips was a low-slung yellow woven belt that tied in the middle with a heavy pouch hanging off it. With it, she was wearing a short green tube top held up by a lot of buckles and straps that ran over her shoulder and secured somewhere behind her back, dragging the already short shirt even higher. One thick orange strap wrapped across her back and secured to a heavy-looking gauntlet armguard to her right arm. Her left arm was wrapped in thick blue fabric that ended in fingerless gloves, laced up past her elbow with white ribbon and tied in a neat bow. On her feet, she wore knee-high thick-soled blue and black striped boots and thigh-high white socks. 

She had a mess of short dark hair wildly chopped around her face. A few strands were contained by a dark headband, but most of it fluttered crazily around her face. The ends of the headband were frayed and hung down to her mid-back, surely ticking all that exposed flesh. She had an honest smile that was all white teeth and petal-pink lips. Most shocking about her, though, were her deep dark eyes. They were perfectly honest and smoldering with powerful emotion. Her eyes were full of life, the windows to her soul, and—by the look of it—she had a gorgeous spirit.

It was hard to believe Yuffie and Riku were so closely related.

The first thing she did when she met them was nearly deck Xion when the idiot snarled something about meeting another Shark sibling. It was then that Yuffie shouted at them, irritated and flat-out, that she would never be a Shark again and the new name she had taken was Kisaragi. Then, she was all hugs and kisses while Xion sat on her ass in the dirt, looking stunned. 

“So, who are you all?” Yuffie asked, finally stepping back from them. The first traces of suspicion touched her deep eyes, overshadowed by curiosity and understanding. “You came in the company of my brother so I’d better get the facts straight before I pass any judgments on you.” 

“Well, my name is Kairi Hart,” Kairi began and gestured to Xion who didn’t look like she’d be getting up and speaking for herself anytime soon. “And this is Xion Sorin.” She glanced at Roxas and he gave her a go ahead motion. “These are Roxas Strife and his brother,” she hesitated, “Sora Strife, and this is Namine. Namine and Sora are both slaves,” she explained.

“So,” Yuffie circled them lightly, arms behind her back. “These two are brothers. This one is a slave and the other is not. How does that work out?”

“My parents sold my brother to pay off their debts,” Roxas explained. “I’ve been searching for him all my life.”

“So you found and bought him?”

“Um, no. Actually, Kairi bought him.”

Yuffie looked like her head might explode, but she waved her arms and moved on. “Okay, okay. That sounds complicated so I’ll let you explain it once… later… if I decide to bring you to our headquarters, that is.” For a moment, she looked at them and then she turned on Riku. “I believe them, but that doesn’t explain, dear brother, why you are here.” There was something sour and sharp in her voice. 

Riku lowered his eyes, looking ashamed and a little nervous. “Yuffie, listen, I know I’ve done bad things in the past, but—”

“Did you crawl here on your knees to apologize?” Yuffie snapped. “It’s not happening. You have done unforgivable things! Nothing will ever change that! Vincent is never coming back!” Her voice rose an octave, tight and high with tears. Then, with visible effort, she sucked in a deep breath and took a step back from him, not appearing to notice that she had advanced on him with fists raised.

“Please, Yuffie,” Riku whispered. He looked like he might crumple beneath her flaming glare at any moment. 

Surprisingly, it was Sora who stepped forward and spoke for Riku. “Miss Yuffie, I understand that hurtful things have passed between you two, but as you did with us, shouldn’t you hear him out before passing judgment?” 

Yuffie’s dark eyes gleamed with unshed tears, but she drew in another shaky breath, breath rattling in her chest. “You’re right, but I… I can’t forgive him,” she murmured softly. “But, I will bring you all to Leon. I’ll let Leon decide.” 

…

Yuffie fished a key from somewhere in her outfit, shoved it into the lock of a tall Victorian-style mansion that was in serious need of some TLC, paint, and yard work. Brown grass grew in dried up bunches on the barren lawn, a few weedy dandelions bowed in the breeze, and dirt clustered in the corners of the porch. The porch itself was sagging and rather unstable-looking, banisters leaning haphazardly from side to side like a wavy line, but proved sound as Yuffie trooped across it. The grayish paint was peeling off in strips like old flesh, revealing dark stained wood beneath. The windows were boarded over, broken, and dirty. There might have been a distant light coming from inside the mansion, but through the grimy peeks between the boards of the front windows, it was hard to tell. 

“Come on,” she said and waved to them cheerily. “I know what it looks like, but it’s quite sturdy.”

“Are you kidding?!” Xion said sharply and waved her arms frenetically. “Look at this place. It’s going to cave right in on itself!”

Yuffie rolled her dark eyes. “Are you going to come in with me or not?” she asked and gave the door a bump with her hip to get it open. 

Kairi grabbed Xion by her shirt collar and gave her a yank.

They trooped in after Yuffie in a scattered single file line with Riku and Yuna trailing at the rear. The interior of the mansion was dark and neglected-looking. The old yellowed floral wallpaper was peeling and the floor creaked something awful. An old crystal chandelier tinkled like a forgotten song in an empty foyer. The rooms they passed her empty and dim. The place may have looked terrible on the outside and the interior wasn’t much better, but at least it was clean. That was more than they could say for the hotel room they had stayed in the night before. 

“It’s not much, but it’s home,” Yuffie said absently as she led them down the dreary hallway. She had a small dreamy smile on her face, but it was mostly sad. 

“Creepy,” Xion dragged out in a soft eerie voice. 

Kairi put an elbow in Xion’s ribs. 

Yuffie halted at a door with a thin beam of light trickling beneath it, knocked, and called, “Leon?” But she didn’t wait for an answer before pushing open the door. 

Squall Leonhart was a stereotypical tall, dark, and handsome man. Standing side by side, he and Yuffie were polar opposites. Yuffie was all bright colors and cheer to his dark brooding personality. Leon wore a short leather jacket with crimson wings embroidered on the back and a white t-shirt beneath the open jacket. With it, he wore loose-fitting dark jeans with several studded belts snarled in a knot around his narrow hips, crisscrossed. Startling, there was a vicious scar bisecting his handsome aristocratic face. It was dark against his pale skin, jagged and deep. His scar and angry eyes made him look much older than he probably was. He looked like a demon, all darkness and narrowed glowering dark blue eyes. 

“Yuffie, who are these people?” Leon demanded and slammed his hands down on the table in front of him. The table was spread with parchment, pens, maps, and several other archaic tools of unknown usage and origin. A glass of water jumped, but didn’t tumble. 

“Rebels,” she said plainly and sauntered up to him, shrugging from her arm-gauntlet. “Surprisingly enough, Riku brought them to me.”

Leon’s eyes narrowed and darted. “Your brother?”

“Yeah,” she said. Her voice was soft and sad. 

Leon came around the table immediately and gingerly swept an arm around her shoulders. “Go have some dinner. I’ll take care of this,” he offered, voice soft and hushed as if their bond was private and her pain was not on display. 

She nodded, sniffled, and walked away without looking back. 

Riku shuffled, ashamed, and almost ducked behind Yuna as if to hide himself behind her slender form.

Then, Leon turned his dark angry eyes on Kairi, Roxas, Xion, Namine, and Sora without giving them a chance to speak. “I know you convinced Yuffie, but she’s easy to convince. She’s trusting, but I’m not. You say you’re rebels. Why is this?” he asked quickly and firmly.

Since Kairi had been elected unofficial spokesperson for their little group, she quickly explained to Leon the condensed version of their story—from her purchase of Sora, to Tristan, to the court, and finally how they had broken Sora from jail rather than allow him to die. Then, she tossed in a few of the background details, like Roxas’s search for his long-lost brother and how Xion was “just tagging along” with no real reason for deserting her old life.

Leon listened patiently, giving nothing away in his eyes or face, not interrupting or asking questions or seeming to come to any decisions. After Kairi finished, he stood there, staring at them with is wine-dark eyes, for a nerve-wracking amount of time. Then, he blew out a long sigh and gestured for them to follow him deeper into the house. “You stay,” he said to Riku. “I’ll deal with you later. They rest of you, come with me.”

“Where are you taking us?” Kairi asked. There was a faint tremor in her voice and she bumped into Sora in the dark. He stayed her with a light warm hand on her shoulder. He was a comfort, warm and soft. 

“Don’t worry,” Leon said. His footsteps were loud and hollow on the floor, echoing on the walls. “You passed the test.” Then, he opened a narrow wooden door that had seen better days, flooding the dark hallway with light and momentarily blinding them. “Welcome to the rebel camp.”

…

The rebel camp was a poorly constructed combination of the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Actually, it looked like the walls separating the three rooms had been plowed asunder. Three separate floors, carpet and tile and hard wood, never touched except where it looked like doorways had once been. They were separated by rectangular dips in the floor where concrete showed through beneath, but the floor was clean and the rest of the room was orderly. Where the dining room had once been, three long wooden picnic tables with benches had been arranged like parallel lines. The kitchen was separated form the big room by an island with a marble countertop. Behind it, there was an army-sized fridge and other assorted kitchen appliances from sink to microwave. What was once the living room was completely empty. It looked like a ready-for-anything shape-shifting room. A big chandelier hung from the ceiling above the three wooden tables, the kitchen was lit by fluorescent lighting as bright as runway lights, and the empty living room had a many-armed chandelier full of bare bulbs dangling down on an adjustable chain. 

Yuffie was standing at the microwave in the kitchen, looking impatient. When she laid eyes on them, she was all smiles, absolutely no trace of the anguish that had marked her face earlier. “Hey! You made it through!” she said cheerfully and bounced over to them, momentarily forgetting whatever she had in the microwave. “If Leon hadn’t liked you, he would have butchered you on the spot. You guys don’t even look rattled in the least.”

Kairi’s vision filled with little black spots and she felt faint all of the sudden. The thought of her death looming right in front of her nose without her knowing was sickening. She put a hand to her head and took a wavering step back. 

Sora gripped her shoulders gently and gave her a small shake. “Mistress, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I just feel a little—” Then, Kairi crashed over in a dead faint. 

Xion made a mad grab for her, but epically missed. 

Sora caught Kairi in his arms, cradling her body timidly against his chest. He cut his cerulean eyes to Roxas, who gave him a small encouraging nod beneath his concern. Then, Sora lifted her gently. He had one arm beneath her knees and the other around her back. Her head lolled against his chest, nuzzling lightly into his shirt, and her fingers curled in the fabric.

“Ooh,” Yuffie said. “What was that?”

“She probably hasn’t been sleeping,” Roxas said. 

“I’ll show you to one of our rooms. You guys are cool with bunking together and sharing space, right?” Yuffie asked. 

“Of course,” Roxas told her.

“Good. Just follow me.” Yuffie bounced from the room, waving eagerly and leading them up a flight of creaky stairs to a long dark hallway of doors. 

Each one had a note tacked on it with a list of names in dark thick ink. Yuffie led them to the end of the hall where a blank note was nailed to the door. Inside was a neat layout of already-made cots in the center of the room, bunk beds pushed against the walls, a stack of clean sheets and blankets in a box, a crooked dresser, a shabby empty bookcase, and a dark coastal-style wicker fan whirring at the ceiling. The walls were covered in the yellowed peeling wallpaper with a vague pattern of birds and clouds. The ceiling was cracked and water-stained, but didn’t look in danger of falling down on their heads anytime soon. Two of the fours windows were boarded over. The remaining two looked out on the back of the house and were as filthy as the ones in the front of the house. Like the rest of the mansion, the room was neglected and ancient, but spotlessly clean.

“This room is empty so you guys can stay in here,” Yuffie explained. “The other rooms are labeled according to who bunks in them. The ones without labels are either bathrooms or they’re empty, unused. Leon has a few strategy rooms and we have one room dedicated to our medical setup. There aren’t any secrets in this place. We’re all felons here so we have to trust each other. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.”

“Thank you,” Roxas said and smiled winningly at her. “Would it be alright if we left Kairi up here and came down with you?”

Yuffie beamed. “Of course! I’ll introduce you to the rest of the gang!”

Sora gently laid Kairi in the lower bunk of one of the beds and turned back to Roxas. “I’ll stay here with her,” he offered. 

“You don’t have to, Sora,” Namine murmured softly. She wrapped her fingers through Roxas’s elbow. “Here, we aren’t slaves anymore. We can be free now.”

“I know, but… I wouldn’t want to wake up here alone,” he told her.

Roxas took Namine’s hand and smiled at his brother. Sora was just as kind and sweet and caring as he had been when he was taken. It seemed that some things never changed. “That’s a good idea,” he said. “You should come down when she wakes up.”

Sora nodded.

Yuffie, Roxas, Namine, and Xion left the room, closing the door softly behind themselves. 

…

Riku was waiting in the dark for Leon’s return, trembling with worry. 

Yuna had sat down, crossing her legs neat Indian-style. She was completely relaxed, unafraid, smiling faintly even. Against the yellowed peeling wallpaper, she looked like a forgotten porcelain doll that someone had dressed strangely. Riku had never even noticed how absently beautiful she was with her different colored eyes, soft chocolate tresses, and soft sweet innocence. 

Riku felt like shit and his mouth was full of sorrowful ash. He paced a little, but exhaustion swarmed his body.

Finally, the door opened and Leon stepped into the amber beam of lamplight. He pulled up his chair behind his littered table, sat, and stared at nothing for a long moment. The glass of water glinted as he took a small sip and grimace that momentarily touched his features made Riku think it might not have been water in that glass.

“Okay, Riku, we all know what you did to Yuffie and we’re not going to rehash it. I don’t want Vincent to come up in this conversation. Understand?” Leon began.

Riku nodded. A stone welled in his throat. “I really am so—”

“I said we’re NOT going to talk about it,” Leon snapped. “Now, tell me, no bullshit, why you are here.”

“Y-you know I hate slaves, I always have, and I’ve treated my Yuna like… like s-shit for years, even when Yuffie had Vincent.”

Leon’s dark eyes flashed. 

Riku pulled back, biting his lip anxiously. He looked like a nervous child being scolded by a parent, caught red-handed and terrified of the punishment to come. His green eyes darted to Yuna, to Leon, and finally slid to the floor. “I know… but… Roxas and Kairi were willing to sacrifice everything for Kairi’s slave. Everything. They broke him out of jail and left the boarding school… left everything behind… for a slave. I had to know why. I had to know what would lead them to do this,” he confessed quietly. “I had to know what made him so special to them.”

Yuna shifted, caught Leon’s gaze, and her bi-colored eyes spoke volumes of both pain and understanding for her cruel master.

Leon sighed and took a big swallow of whatever was in his glass. “Yuffie hates you and she’s my second-in-command. I can’t take you in, but…” He was quiet for a long moment, gazing at Yuna. “I can’t throw you out. Maybe, you can convince someone here to take you in.”

“In?” Riku’s eyes widened and his head snapped up. 

Leon heaved in a deep breath. “Yes,” he forced out. “You should stay with us. I’ll talk to Yuffie later.”

Riku blinked at him owlishly and didn’t quite seem to believe what he was hearing.

“I don’t know what it is, but I can’t help feeling that you should stay. For now, you can stay in one of our unused front rooms until I can get something set up.” Then, Leon stood and opened to door to duck back into the main room of the house which was the gutted living-dining-kitchen-room-combo. 

Surprisingly, Riku’s gratitude followed him quietly across the space between them. A simple small murmured Thank You, but it ran down Leon’s spine like a tangible chill. 

Something in Riku had… had changed.

…

Yuffie was busily introducing Roxas, Xion, and Namine to the rest of the rebellion in the main room. They were all sitting around one of the wooden tables, leaning over a map with different colored routes traced all across it. 

“So, everybody,” Yuffie said cheerfully and sashayed across the room. 

The others continued pouring over their map, effectively ignoring her.

“HEY! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!” Yuffie voice was loud enough to shatter glass and everyone immediately whirled on her.

A man with straw-colored hair and a cigarette hanging from his lips immediately went off on her like a bomb. “Damn, girl! Put a muffler on it!”

“Well, you weren’t listening. These are going to be our newest rebels. Roxas, Xion, and Namine. Sora and Kairi are upstairs, but I’ll bring them down later.”

The people at the table gave small waves and almost went back to their map, but Yuffie snatched it. 

“Pay attention!”

“Alright, alright! Just get on with it!”

“This is Cid, our weapons expert.” 

Cid was tall and might have had a beer gut, but he had a strip of orange fabric tied around his waist. He wore baggy blue pants and a white t-shirt. He had goggles perched high on his forehead, shadowing his eyes. His straw-colored hair stuck straight up in a singular cone on the top of his head and he puffed a smoke ring at them with a small greeting of simply, “Yo.”

“Boobs, our boobs expert.”

“Yuffie,” the young woman snapped. She was wearing all black, a black skirt and a black tank top with a silver belt high around her narrow waist. She had long dark brown hair and full petal-pink lips. “My name is Tifa and I specialize in hand-to-hand combat. Don’t listen to Yuffie. She’s insane,” she snapped. But Yuffie’s nickname for her wasn’t very far off. Like Kairi’s mother, her cup-size came very late in the alphabet. 

“Cloud,” Yuffie said with a small gesture and a faint polite smile.

Cloud was tall and pale with piercing eyes. He had blond hair that spiked crazily at all angles on his head much like Sora’s did. He was wearing gauntlets, a sturdy metal shoulder pad on his left shoulder, and a heavy red cloak around his shoulders. Resting on the table beside him was a long thick sword wrapped in bandages. The weapon was probably as big as Cloud was, maybe bigger.

“Aeris, our doctor.”

Aeris Gainsborough, the sweet nurse from the boarding school who had treated Yuna, was sitting at the end of the table beside Cloud. She had shed the white nurse clothing she usually wore and traded it in for a soft pink skirt with a slip of cotton beneath it and a red-and-white spaghetti-strap top. Her long dark brown hair was twisted into a long loose plait, many strands escaping to frame her face. 

“Aeris?!” Roxas choked out.

“Hey, kids,” she said with a smile.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m part of the rebellion. I was stationed at the school by Leon to scout for the traffic of slaves, but now that I have my numbers I can be home again,” she explained. “I never expected you to raise such a fuss with Kairi’s Yuu.”

“He’s not just Kairi’s Yuu. His name is Sora and he’s my brother,” Roxas told her. His voice was soft.

Aeris smiled. “I know you were searching for him. I’m glad you’ve been reunited.”

“And that’s everyone,” Yuffie said and sat down on the table. “Just the six of us, including Leon and I.”

“So few?” Xion asked. “From what I hear on the news, I thought there’d be a lot more of you.”

“There are.”

“Huh?”

“Yes. We number in the thousands across the country. We’re actually the base, command central, for all the other little rebel camps. We’re station in a big city with a lot of traffic. We steal slaves, free slaves, recruited people, and such and from here we send them out to other camps,” Yuffie explained. “Think of us as the center of the spider and all the other camps as our arms.”

“So, welcome, kids,” Cid said and shoved Tifa over some. “Sit with us. Discuss. Give opinions. And don’t smoke.”

“Hypocrite,” Yuffie muttered.

X X X

Phew, long chapter. I didn’t think it was ever going to end. So this is where everyone ended up.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	23. Riku

I’ve been so lazy lately. I borrowed Kingdom Hearts from my boyfriend and I’m such a spaz. In seven hours I got all the way to the end of Alice’s world. That’s it! (I suck at video games. I should give up.)

**ParadiseAvenger’s Recommendation Board:**

A Warrior’s Lament by Billy Creston!

It’s so awesome and he updates faster than ME! (It's over there on Fanfiction.net.)

Oh, and I saw the greatest video on YouTube for Sora. Everyone should check it out!

Link, just remove the spaces: http:// www. youtube. com/watch?v=Ksztlz1I9Y4 

Or if it decides to be a butt, the title is “Sora's an American Soldier(Veteran's Day vid).”

X X X

Night was falling on Traverse Town, painting the red and gold Victorian colors a spray of deep ethereal twilight, making a ghost city glowing with life. The city slowly lit up as the sun sank beneath the distant horizon, amber lights flashing on in windows, curtains being pushed open. Children were out on the streets, playing and laughing. Young people strolled in fine pairs, some looking like Yuffie—ready for a fight, for anything—but others looked calm and peaceful, content with their lot in life. There was no sound of the ocean and no sea-salt scent, but it had an aroma all its own—sharp and spicy like fried foods and fresh clean laundry. This place came alive at night. 

Kairi woke with a start, lurching upright in the bed. She couldn’t see anything in the dimness of the room or past her curtain of red locks, but she felt someone else’s presence. She wet her lips and swallowed. Her throat was suddenly dry and tight. “Roxas?” she whispered into the darkness.

There was movement bedside her and the mattress shifted slightly. 

“No. It’s Sora,” he murmured softly and wrapped hesitant fingers around a fall of crimson tresses that hid her face from him. He tucked the locks lightly behind her ear and offered a faint timid smile. “The others are with Miss Yuffie, taking a tour and meeting the others. You passed out. I… I stayed with you.” He averted is gaze, lowering his thick lashes to hide his eyes. 

“That was kind of you,” Kairi whispered and some of the tension eased from her body. “Thank you.”

He nodded lightly, looking nervous and twisting his fingers in his lap.

“Sora?”

“Yes Mistress?”

Kairi bit her lip. “You shouldn’t call me that anymore. You… you aren’t a slave, not anymore.”

“Then, what am I?” His voice broke.

She gingerly touched his shoulder, feeling the bumps and ridges of scars beneath his shirt. “You’re—”

Her own words came crashing back to her like a cold brick to the face. _“You’re not a person! You’re a disease!”_ She had shouted that at him, shoving on his wounded burned shoulders, telling him he was worthless, tormenting him, and torturing him for his name. 

It felt like so long ago that she had hated him and now… 

She had sacrificed her entire life, become a rebel, to save his life. In the car, he had pressed against her almost desperately and she recalled the small feather-light brush of his lips against her neck. She didn’t know if it had been accidental or purposeful, but she knew he lit her blood on fire with the smallest most innocent touch. Last night, in the hotel room, she had pressed against him as if someone would steal him away from her, clutching him. 

So much had changed between them.

“You’re a person,” she said finally. Her voice was breathless, emotional.

Sora shied away. “No… I’m not…”

Please, she thought to herself desperately. Don’t let him say it…

“I’m not a person… I’m a disease,” he whispered.

Kairi felt a stone form in her throat. She had never hated herself, never loathed anything she had ever done, never regretted anything, but hearing him repeat her wretched words made her sick to her stomach. “No,” she whispered. “I was angry. I hated you, but I was wrong. I was so wrong.” She gripped his shoulders again, but he would not turn to face her. “Please, let me explain.”

He trembled, but did slowly turn to face her. His cerulean eyes glowed in the dark. 

“I was angry and hateful and I took it out on you. I’m so sorry,” she whispered and tenderly drew him into her arms. For a moment, he strained against her, protesting, but Kairi persisted. Finally, he collapsed against her, eagerly clutching her against him. “Please, I’m sorry, Sora. I never meant to hurt you.”

“But you did…” he whispered, voice cracking. 

Kairi’s throat tightened. It was true. At the beginning, she had meant to hurt him. She had done it purposefully. It was around the time he told her about Yuna and the rape he had been through himself that her heart had turned over and she began to hate hurting him. Then, he had been going to sacrifice himself for her and the others to Tristan. It was then that she realized that without him… there would be a space in her life that would be empty. 

She didn’t love him. (At least, she didn’t think she did.)

But there was something about him, something she would miss sorely if he was gone. 

“Sora, I—”

“It’s okay,” he said suddenly, breaking through her thoughts. Then, he tightened his arms around her body, hugging her securely. “Maybe I expected something different from you, but you had every right to hurt me. I am yours after all.”

“Not anymore,” she felt her mouth whisper. “You’re not a slave anymore.”

“Mistress?”

“Call me Kairi.”

“But—”

“Kairi,” she insisted. “You aren’t a slave. You aren’t!” The vehemence in her own voice surprised her.

He shuddered in her arms like a small child, a puppy, a small broken bird. Then, he breathed her name into her skin like a prayer and a shiver that was almost pleasure went down her spine. The warmth of his body seeped into her and she felt his fingers press into the bare skin at the nape of her neck. 

“Why? Why would you do all this for me?”

Kairi hugged him tighter to her. “Because… you were the first person to make me see.”

“See what?”

“Everything,” she let the word out as if it had been trapped inside. “You made me see Riku, see him for the scumbag he really was. You made me see Yuna, the poor girl. And I don’t think I’d ever have spared Xion and Roxas a passing glance if it wasn’t for you. Roxas loved slaves. He was below me, I thought. And Xion was so loud, so uncaring of her reputation or what others thought of her. She was so strange to me,” Kairi murmured. “But most of all, you made me see you.”

“Yuu?”

She cupped his face in her palms and pulled back to she could look into his face. “You made me see you. You’ve always been special, Sora. You were so special that Roxas searched for you forever and he was never going to stop searching for you. You drew Xion right in to you. She loved you the day she saw you. And me… you changed me.”

His lips curved into a small hesitant smile. “Really?”

His face was so trusting, those eyes so beautiful and hopeful. If Kairi had been lying, she wouldn’t have been able to go through with it at this moment. He just looked so stunning, so innocent, like someone who never should have been hurt by anything. 

“Yeah,” she whispered and felt her own mouth lift in a small smile.

His eyes sparkled like gems, light they were lighted from the inside, and she was suddenly aware of how close they were. She was practically in his lap, hugging him in a tight embrace. His breath was light and warm on her face, stirring the ends of her cranberry tresses. His lips were pink and soft-looking and slightly parted, moist and finally healed, so close. 

_It would be so easy to…_

Kairi felt herself leaning towards him, eyes fluttering closed. A small sound issued from his throat and her eyes shot open.

_…to take advantage of him like this!_

Kairi exploded backwards from Sora as if shot, startled by the distressed darkness that touched his beautiful eyes. But she didn’t have time to make the situation more awkward. 

…

There was a soft knock on the thick wooden door and the knob rattled for a moment before finally swinging open. Roxas and Namine stepped into the room with Xion trotting in place behind them. Xion was cheerful-looking and pink in the face, blue eyes shining. Namine looked blissful, peaceful, as if walking asleep. Roxas was a little pale, but he looked happy.

“Well, well, lazy bones,” Xion said and Roxas put an elbow in her ribcage. 

“Ignore her. She’s hyped up because Yuffie is just as rambunctious as she is,” Roxas explained. “They’re two peas in a pod.”

Namine smiled softly. “It’s wonderful here,” she said. “These people are very kind.”

“But,” Roxas said softly and his jewel-blue eyes darted almost nervously. “First, there’s something we have to talk about as a group.”

“Huh?” Kairi asked, puzzled. She felt Sora’s fingers warm and hesitant on her back and pulled away from him. She took a few unsteady steps and gripped Roxas’s offered hand. He looked at her inquisitively, but didn’t say anything.

“Yeah, I was talking to Leon while Yuffie showed the girls around town. You know how Riku brought us here? Well, he wants to stay and Leon thinks it would be for the best, but Yuffie absolutely hates him. There’s some bad blood between them. He was hoping we would take Riku in with us, let him bunk here away from Yuffie.”

“Riku?” Kairi jerked back from Roxas as if struck. “Are you insane? He’s a dickhead.”

Roxas sat down on a bunk and rested his hands on his knees. “Everyone sit down,” he ordered. “We need to seriously talk about this.” 

Namine sank down beside Roxas and Xion plopped down on her ass in the middle of the floor. Kairi hesitated for a moment, but finally went to sit beside Sora on her bed because Roxas was staring at her with those all-seeing blue eyes of his. 

“If we join the rebellion, Leon will be in charge of us. Like Aeris, he can send us places to gather numbers and other things,” Roxas pointed out. “Right now, because of what we’ve been through for Sora, we’ve been accepted pretty readily. Do we really want to threaten our place in this organization? Leon looks like a nice guy, but I have a feeling that if we threaten anything he has created here, he won’t hesitate to strike us down.”

“So, you’re saying we should do what he asks because he’ll be our boss if we decide to stay,” Xion repeated and reclined back on her hands.

“No, actually, Leon said it was completely up to us. If we decide we don’t want him with us, Leon will turn him out. No questions asked.”

“Then what’s to discuss? Kick him out,” Kairi snapped.

“Does everyone feel that way?” Roxas asked.

“He is a Shark. To me, that’s a cardinal sin,” Xion said flatly. “I agree with Kairi. He’s a jerk and a scumbag. I don’t want him with us. Besides, Yuffie likes everyone. If she hates Riku’s guts, it’s probably for an extremely good reason.”

“Namine?”

The young woman averted her eyes, not used to having her opinion matter so much. “I… I do not like him, but I’m not sure I should judge. I only dislike him because I know how he treats his Yuna and acts towards other slaves,” she explained. 

Roxas sighed heavily. “I agree with you,” he said. “I don’t like Riku. I don’t know why he followed us, but I don’t think he should be around long enough for us to find out.”

“Wait,” Sora spoke up. His voice was soft and silky-smooth, but also heartbreakingly innocent and honest. “I think we should give him a chance.”

“What? Why?” Xion asked, sitting bolt upright. 

Kairi glanced at Sora. His blue eyes were bright and soft, but also nervous. He was laying his heart on the line here.

“Sora?” Roxas murmured.

“If he followed us this far and now he wants to stay, I think we should let him. We should give him a chance. Maybe he’s changed…”

“I doubt that,” Xion snapped and flopped back on her hands. 

Namine bit her lip. “Can I change?”

Roxas looked at her and nodded. 

“I agree with Sora. I didn’t think of that, but maybe Riku has changed.”

Kairi heaved a deep sigh. “True,” she said finally. “The Riku I knew in school wouldn’t have given up anything for anyone and here he is following us and leading us to the rebellion.”

“So?” Roxas prompted. “Shall we vote?”

Namine, Kairi, and Sora all raised their hands, looking at each other. Roxas also raised his hand and they all looked at Xion. She had a sour look on her face, glowering at the floor.

“Xion, we won’t do this if you’re not with us,” Roxas said softly.

She sighed. “No, let him in, but if he turns out to still be a cheap liar, I’m not holding back on the ‘I told you so!’s.” 

Kairi smiled.

“Then,” Roxas said. “It’s settled.” 

…

There were two bunk beds pushed against opposite walls and two cots set up in the middle of the room, six beds total. The box of clean sheets and blankets had been emptied, beds all neatly made. The crooked dresser was empty and really only there for possessions there were used every day and quickly packable. Yuffie explained that they had to be ready to pack up and bolt at any time in case the police discovered their base and set out to disband them. She even had vacuum bags of dust and grime on hand to dirty up the spotless house when they left and make it look unused. The bookcase was for anything with the same basic principle of ‘pack fast.’ Leon had put it in for pictures and books and weapons so all things were visible and/or easily accessible. The wicker fan whirred overhead. 

Night was perfect inky velvet beyond the windows and not a trace of light peeked in.

Xion was settled in a top bunk on the far side of the room, back to everyone, muttering and grumbling in her sleep. She sounded unhappy, like she was having nightmares. On the bunk below her, Roxas was lying on his back staring up at the bunk above him with his hands folded neatly on his chest. Namine tossed restlessly in the cot just beside him, unable to get comfortable. Riku was at her back, lying perfectly still in the other cot with his eyes squeezed tightly closed. Sora and Kairi were awkwardly lying beside each other, not touching. No one had commented on how they had chosen to be the ones to share a bed. Yuna took the remaining bed, the top bunk above Sora and Kairi. 

Everyone was quiet, the silence only broken by Xion’s mumblings and grumblings. 

Finally, Riku sat up, sheets rustling, and called sharply through the silence, “Kairi? Could I talk to you? Just for a moment?”

Kairi wanted to snap in his face and tell him NO, to PISS OFF, but she didn’t. Instead, she carefully picked her way over Sora, untangled herself form the blankets, shivering in the chill, and stood up. “Alright,” she said softly and shrugged into Xion’s discarded hoodie for warmth.

Roxas’s blue eyes reflected in the light, watching her, questioning her. He looked concerned so Kairi gave him a small smile and a little finger wave to show that she was alright. Then, Riku followed Kairi from the room and the door closed softly behind them. She led him down the hall, passed the other rooms. Some had light filtering beneath the doors and others were dark. One had hushed voices sneaking out. It sounded like Leon and Yuffie… arguing. Finally, she stopped once they were alone in the main room downstairs. It might have occurred to her that if he was going to hurt her, no one would hear her scream down here, but even if he had wanted to hurt her, he wouldn’t have been able to. 

There were dark circles beneath Riku’s jade eyes, so dark they looked like swollen black eyes. His lips were thin and chapped, bloodied and chewed at, and even now he was biting his lower lip. His silver hair was dull and lackluster, hanging around in face in strips. His eyes were sunken deep in his head and his entire body seemed to shrink in on itself even as he stood there. “Kairi, I…” Even his voice had changed. It sounded crushed and ragged, weakened. “I’m sorry for what I did to you at the dance.”

Kairi sat down on the bench of the table and glanced up at him. She reclined her head on her hand. “Actually, I could almost thank you for that. You pushed me right into Roxas and Xion’s arms,” she said flatly, but it was the truth. She didn’t hate Riku for her humiliation at the dance so long ago. Being kidnapped and knowing Sora had made all that seem trifling. She couldn’t even hold it against Selphie for betraying her in her time of need because Tristan had destroyed her.

He hesitated and then sat down across from her at the table. “But I am… I am sorry,” he whispered.

“I know,” she said softly. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

He averted his eyes. “I don’t know. I just… I’m so confused.”

“Confused?” Kairi repeated. 

“I want to… change, Kairi. I want to be more like you. I want to stop hurting Yuna and being cruel.”

“That’s not something that can happen overnight.”

“I know, but… I was hoping you could help me. I mean, you used to hate your slave and now you’ve sacrificed everything for him.”

Kairi sighed. “I couldn’t tell you why Sora means so much to me. It was after Tristan kidnapped us that I really realized how much he meant in my life.”

“I know. He was going to sacrifice himself for you, knowing that Tristan would rape and kill him. I was trapped with that man in that cave for a few days before you came. He talked constantly of what he wanted to do to his pet when he finally caught him.”

Kairi glanced up, startled. “What… what was he going to do to Sora?”

“His name is Sora?”

She nodded.

Riku continued, “Terrible things. Worse than what he was doing to Selphie, but under the same principles. He was going to make your Sora love him and then hurt him, make him feel good and then cut him apart…” he shuddered. “It was horrible. In the end, he was going to simply torture him to death. He has some medieval torture devices—a rack, an Iron Maiden, bondage things made to hurt him sexually… Tristan was going to kill him slowly… so slowly, just keeping him barely alive for at least two months.”

“I never knew…” Kairi whispered. The thought of Tristan getting his hideous hands on her Sora and doing those things to him was sickening.

“Your Sora knew… Tristan had already done half those things to him the last time he owned him.”

That was what Sora meant when he said Tristan would tear his body to pieces. Those were the things he had barely lived through, the things that made his face so pale in that dark cave. And Sora had been going to go willingly back to that to save them all.

She shivered, hugging her shoulders in her hands. “I never knew,” she repeated and it was almost like a cry.

“You never knew?”

“No, I couldn’t bear to ask him what he had been through at Tristan’s hands and then I never had a chance to ask him. We were put in the hospital and he was taken away from me.”

“So, you saved him so you could find out?” Riku seemed almost desperate.

“No.”

“Then why?”

She rolled her shoulders. “I don’t know. I just couldn’t let him die after he had been ready to die for us.”

“You would have traded your life for his?”

“No.”

Riku gasped exasperatedly. “But—”

“I can’t tell you why, Riku! I just—I just—”

“Do you love him?”

Kairi closed her eyes. “I don’t know…”

They were quiet for a long moment. Riku radiated desperation and Kairi simply felt tired. Riku’s questions made her wonder why she had done everything she had for Sora. Honestly, it didn’t make much sense and she was beginning to understand that. Sora was Roxas’s brother, the brother he had searched for for his entire life. Xion was crazy, loving of change, and along for the ride. She wanted the world to change and she wanted to be a part of it. But Kairi… she had hated him and she hadn’t wanted him. Now, here she was, in the rebellion, giving up everything. What would possess her to do that? Was it possible she simply loved him?

Finally, she let her breath out in a rush and stood up. “Come on, Riku. Let’s get back upstairs,” Kairi said softly.

“How can you accept me so easily?” he whispered. His voice was broken, almost a sob. “I’ve done terrible things to everyone… to Yuna and to you and even to my sister, to my own flesh and blood…”

Kairi gingerly touched his shoulder and he lifted his face to hers. 

His eyes glowed in the dark with pain and sorrow and true regret. “I’ve created so much pain around me,” he whispered.

Kairi let her breath out, but she didn’t know what to say to him.

“Do you think… I could ever make things right?”

She offered him a small smile. “I think you can. I think you’ve started to…”

He smiled weakly, but then his eyes filled with tears, flowing over. Kairi hugged him gently, feeling him tremble against her. For a moment, he was rigid and stiff, refusing her touch. But finally, he collapsed against her like wet paper, clutching her and sobbing openly. She held him for what felt like a long time, wondering how her enemy had suddenly become her friend.

Life worked in mysterious ways.

X X X

Sorry I’ve been so slow and lazy lately.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	24. Silence, Sex, and Surprises

Blah… 

Time skips!

X X X

**~Two Weeks Later~**

It was Valentine’s Day.

Night had fallen peacefully on Traverse Town, cooling the hot streets and bringing the nightlife to the surface. The sky was painted a beautiful array of pinks and reds like bouquet of roses blooming in the clouds. The streets were heavy with the aroma of fried foods and chocolate-covered everything being sold at vendors and there was a lot of soft laughter. An elderly man sat at the corner, playing piano by the light of a brass candelabra. He had a small glass bowl filled with loose change earned from passing pedestrians. The night was cool, pushing people close and giving girls the perfect opportunity to sneak underneath boyfriends’ arms. 

Love was in the air.

Kairi walked down the dingy hall silently, clean clothes gathered against her chest on her way to the bathroom to shower and dark ruby tresses pulled back in a sloppy bun. She was humming amicably as she walked, enjoying the first breach of silence that graced the house in the past two weeks. 

Everyone was busy tonight. 

Namine and Roxas were in the main room downstairs, pouring over slave routes, trying to decide which ones they should hit, and eating cherries. The two had become very close in the past two weeks, even taking to sharing a bed like Kairi and Sora did at night. Kairi wasn’t exactly sure if the two had feelings growing between them and it didn’t quite seem her place to ask. It was Roxas’s choice if he wanted to love Namine, even if she had been a slave. No one would judge him here. He didn’t have a reputation to worry about anymore.

Xion—who had become increasingly loud and opinionated in relation to how long they stayed—and Cid were out on an overnight mission, taking all of their never-ending squabbling with them. (Roxas was convinced that Yuffie and Xion’s similar personalities fed off each other, which was both good and bad. It was good because Riku’s presence made Yuffie all dark and brooding and Xion was always able to lift her spirits. And bad because the noise they made was never ending, especially when they went out of their way to aggravate Cid.) The two were like brother and sister or an old married couple. They never stopped fighting and, without them around, the house echoed with silence. 

Riku was out for a walk since his presence was disturbing Yuffie, as it did several times each day. He had taken to simply leaving until she cooled down and someone came to fetch him. Sometimes, Kairi walked with him and they talked for what felt like hours. Riku had become very soft-spoken and almost nervous. He was always concerned with what the others thought of him. He acted a lot like a prisoner on parole, edgy and quiet. Yuna was with him, bright and cheerful to his doom and gloom death-around-the-corner attitude.  
Aeris and Tifa were out shopping, making the rounds, restocking the reserves with everything necessary to run an illegal rebellion—guns, armor, bandages, clothes, food, medicine, tampons… 

Leon and Yuffie were in Leon’s room, fighting again. They had been fighting a lot lately, over Riku, over Vincent, over slaves and the rebellion. Their voices weren’t hushed, but the thick wooden doors were good for muffling sound. Even so, Kairi had no trouble hearing their conversation.

“I don’t like him being here, Leon!” Yuffie shouted. Her voice sounded broken, tear-filled.

“I know, but—”

“No! You don’t know! You don’t know what he did to me! You don’t know how much I hate him!” Yuffie started sobbing. “It was all his fault…”

“Yuffie, please,” Leon murmured. His voice was soft and kind, reassuring and gentle. He used this voice to calm slaves and encourage people to join him. Leon was a perfect leader and, if he hadn’t been running the rebellion, he would have been very good at talking people down from jumping to their deaths. 

“I hate him!” 

“Yuffie…”

“No!” Then, she was quiet, sobbing and whimpering. “It was his fault.”

There was a soft murmur of gentle words as Leon talked her down. Kairi could picture Leon getting down on his knees and wrapping Yuffie in his arms, whispering to her like he had so many other brother young people that he took under his wing. In the past two weeks, at least twenty shattered souls had come into his hands. Leon had wrapped them in paper, made them human again in a few afternoons, and sent them off to different rebel houses. 

“Yuffie, please, try to see him. He’s really changed.”

“I know…” she sobbed. “That’s what I’m afraid of. I don’t want to care about him anymore. I want to hate him!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t.”

“But I…”

“I know, Yuffie, but he’s turned over a new leaf. Try to forgive and forget.”

“I don’t want to.”

“You should.”

“But I—”

“Yuffie, this isn’t like you. You’re so sweet and kind. It’s not like you to hold a grudge or hate.”

Yuffie whimpered. 

“Can you try?”

There was a silence where she could have either been nodding or shaking her head.

“Yuffie, please, for me?”

She was quiet for a long moment, but finally whispered, “Okay.”

“That’s my girl.”

Kairi scuttled away before Yuffie came out of Leon’s room and caught her eavesdropping. She ducked into the bathroom, gave the taps a good shot with her fist so they’d work, and cranked up the hot water. Then, she stripped, jumped in, and quickly scrubbed down the daily buildup of dirt. Fresh and clean, she pulled on her favorite cotton pajamas, shoved her feet into socks, and padded back to the crowded room she shared with Roxas, Namine, Riku, Yuna, Xion, and Sora. Oddly though, they made it work fairly easily. Lately, there had even been an unused bed. 

Buttoning herself into her top, Kairi towel-dried her hair until it was mostly dry and in a frightful snarled nest around her head. Then, she combed it out, not without some difficulty and scraped it back into a bun to keep it out of her face. Gathering the day’s dirty clothes and sliding the knife Leon had gave her into the waistband of her low-slung pajamas, she returned to their room. 

A small giggle welled up in her throat at the sight that awaited her.

Sora was wedged half-under their bunk, legs flailing and arms stretched out. He had found a little kitten on the streets and hadn’t been able to resist bringing it home. Sadly, the little creature didn’t like him very much and spent its days either hiding out of his reach or plotting ways to claw more flesh off of Sora’s arms. 

“Sora, what are you doing?” Kairi asked as she pitched her dirty clothing into the laundry basket.

There was a lot of squirming and wriggling and flailing limbs, but finally Sora’s head popped out from beneath the bed. “The kitten’s under there,” he said sheepishly. “She won’t come out.” Then, he held up his wrist, showing Kairi the fresh scratch and a long line of crimson dripping from his elbow. “And she scratched me again.”

“I think you should give up. She just doesn’t like you,” Kairi said and took out a box of tissues and some Band-Aids. She knelt at his feet, dabbed the blood off his arm, and slapped a few bandages over the length of the cut. Then, she sat beside him on the bed and quietly regarded his soft profile.

Sora had changed the most in these past two weeks. 

He was still vaguely quiet, near silent in the morning, but becoming more talkative as each day wore on. By the time night fell, he was acting almost like a human, as if he had never been a slave in his life. Sometimes, he even openly laughed at Yuffie and Xion’s antics. Lately, his mouth even curled into a smile readily. Sora’s relationship with Roxas had grown and evolved. They were brothers again. But strangely, the relationship Sora had with Riku was almost as close as the one he had with Roxas. Sora and Riku often went out walking for hours as a time, coming back in vibrant good spirits. Then, Sora slept with Kairi at night. Sometimes he held her tightly, like they were lovers, like he wanted to share her skin. Other times, he refused to touch her. Lately, his touches sent a shiver through her nerve-endings and the looks he gave her said that he wanted her to feel that way. 

“Kairi,” Sora murmured.

She started, loving the sound of her name spoke in his delicious melted voice. “Yeah?”

He turned to face her, gently gripped her shoulders, and whispered, “Look at me… please.” 

Kairi lifted her eyes to his and was blown away anew by the beautiful cerulean orbs. Sora had eyes carved from the sky itself, speckled with stardust and shining with their own personal sun deep in his sockets. They were the windows to his soul and right now were darkened with confused sadness.

“I’m confused. I want to talk to you.”

“Of course,” she choked out, trying to ignore those beautiful eyes focusing on her. “What is it?”

“I… I sleep with you every night and there have been a few moments between us where I think…” he hesitated, nervously trembling, but dredged up some courage to continue. “I think you might have wanted to kiss me, but… you never do. You never touch me.”

Kairi blinked, confused. No, she hadn’t been touching Sora because she felt that she was taking advantage of him. He was healing, recovering from the hell he had been put through at so many people’s hands, and vulnerable. It wouldn’t be fair to… kiss him.

“I don’t understand, Sora,” she whispered. “Did you want me to?”

His cheeks tinged faint pink and he quickly looked away. He was quiet for a long time. 

“Sora?”

“I…” He felt silent again.

Kairi touched his arm and whispered, “Sora? Please, what is it?”

“I… do,” he whispered. 

“Wh…?”

He shied away, digging his fingers into his knees. “You… you never touched me. You never took me by force.”

Kairi felt cold. “So, you want me to kiss you because I’ve never raped you?”

“No, it’s not like that, but…” He glanced at her and then nervously closed his blue eyes. “I think… You’re important to me. I feel safe with you. I know you won’t hurt me. I know you won’t rape me after you—if you,” he said hastily, “kiss me.”

Kairi was quiet for a long moment, unsure of how to proceed. 

Sora began to tremble. “Are you disgusted with me?”

“No,” Kairi said quickly. “Actually, I’ve wanted to kiss you, but I didn’t want to take advantage of you.”

“Advantage?” he repeated.

“Yes, you’re just starting to heal… to recover from the things you’ve been through. You’re vulnerable and if I kissed you, I was afraid that… well, that you’d be afraid.”

“You… you were concerned that you’d frighten me? That I was vulnerable?” His voice was low and shocked as if the thought of her caring for him at all was impossible. “I’ve always been vulnerable. I look vulnerable. That’s why people, my old masters, liked to rape me so much. They felt like they were breaking me.”

“I didn’t want to break you,” she whispered. 

Timidly, he reached out, hesitated, and then drew her into his arms. His breath was light and warm on the side of her neck and his lips trembled when he gently kissed her racing pulse. Kairi ran her hands down his back, feeling his muscles ripple and curl beneath her fingers. She nudged the corner of his jaw with her chin, encouraging him to lift his face to hers. Then, she gently pressed her lips to his. For a moment, he was rigid, as if frightened, but she didn’t push him. Within seconds he had melted into her. 

His body was warm and strong, trembling just beneath the porcelain-pale flesh. She slipped her fingers up the back of his shirt, touching the dips of breaks and the bumps of scars and relishing the soft smoothness of his skin. He timidly did the same to her, touching her gently and fearfully, as if at any moment she would reel back and hurt him. When she didn’t, he pressed the flat of his palms to her bared flesh. 

She shivered.

His touch was nothing like Riku’s. Riku had been all fierceness, darkness, turn-me-away-and-I’ll-take-you-anyway kind of attitude. He had been bestial, making her feel small and vulnerable and far out of control. She remembered his predatory grin with a small chill down her spine. It was true that Riku had changed, but he no longer had any appeal to her. She knew him as both a monster and a wonderful human being. Even so, the old memories seeped over on occasion and especially in comparison to soft, beautiful, and fragile Sora.

Sora cupped her torso, fingers spanning the curvature of her ribcage. His thumbs lay beneath her breasts and Kairi’s nipples hardened with the thought of him touching her. She gently licked his lower lip, prompting him to allow her in. He hesitated, but did. Then, she was free to taste him. He was sweetened with peppermint, maybe having brushed his teeth, and a faint hint of cherries that told her he had been down to see Roxas and Namine. She tangled her tongue with his and nipped lightly at his lower lip, suckling on it tenderly.

A small sound escape him, almost a moan, and his hands crept farther up on her body. Though it seemed he was not intending to touch her intimately. She touched his wrist, wrapping her fingers around it, and guided his hands over her breasts beneath her shirt. For a moment, he kneaded the soft flesh without really seeming to realize what he was doing. Then, his eyes snapped open and he abruptly pulled away from her.

“I’m sorry!”

“Why?” Kairi said breathlessly. Her skin felt like it was burning. 

“I…” His eyes darted. “I don’t know,” he confessed.

“It’s okay for you to touch me,” she whispered. She placed a small kiss of his neck, feeling his racing pulse. “We can go as far as you want.”

“You mean…?” He sounded frightened and his eyes were rolling wildly in his sockets. His fingers felt cold on her body.

“It’s okay,” Kairi whispered.

He leaned in and gently kissed her again, but his hands rested on her hips and did not move. Kairi continued kissing him, responding to his every touch, encouraging him, telling him it was alright. But Sora was afraid, he was afraid of this contact. He was afraid to give himself over to her when he had so recently just got himself back from the world.  
Kairi unbuttoned a few buttons on her top, almost desperate for a fulfilling touch. She tried to guide his hands to her chest, but he struggled, refusing to lift his arms. He continued kissing her, though, as if that small connection was anchoring him. 

“Sora,” she moaned into his mouth, licking his lower lip again and suckling it. 

Again, she tried to make him touch her, but this time, he pulled away as if punched in the gut. His breathing was ragged and sharp, rattling in his lungs. His face was flushed, eyes glazed with a touch of arousal and fear. She could see evidence of arousal tenting his jeans, but he was clearly more frightened than he was turned on. Kairi, on the other hand, felt as if she would melt into a puddle of girly goo at any moment.

“Sora?”

“I’m sorry…” he whispered. “I can’t…”

She lowered her eyes, ashamed that she had even tried to make him touch her for her own selfish fulfillment. “It’s okay,” she murmured.

Sora lay down on the bed with his back to her. He was still breathing hard and heavy as if labored and pressed on by some great weight. Kairi smoothed her pajamas distractedly across her legs, trying to tamp down the heat coursing through her veins and her racing pulse. She had just finished buttoning the last buttons on her top and had cooled the flush from her cheeks when Yuffie exploded into their room. 

“We have to go!” Yuffie shouted. Her dark eyes were wild and panicked and her dark hair was sticking to the sweat on her neck. “They’ve found us!”

X X X

Sora and Kairi moments, yum…

Questions, comments, concerns?


	25. Found Out!

I do not own Limp Bizkit's song, "Behind Blue Eyes."

I’m trying to wrap this story up. I’m hoping to have it finished by Chapter 30.

X X X

“We have to go! They’ve found us!” 

Those were the words Kairi had been fearing for the past two weeks. 

There was no time for “What?!” or scrambling panic. 

Kairi leaped to her feet immediately and Sora wasn’t too far behind her.

Six steps in the wake of Yuffie, breathless and wild-eyed, were Namine and Roxas. Half-a-block behind them, feet pounding down the hall, was everyone else. Yuffie vanished from the threshold of their doorway, allowing Roxas and Namine in. Xion barreled in a moment later, panting and red-faced with exertion. She must have run into town to fetch Tifa and Aeris. In a flurry of motion that felt almost oddly rehearsed—which it might have been because Yuffie had explained to them several times what to do in the case of being found out—the five of them packed all their belongings, stripped the beds bare of blankets and sheets, and covered the room with Yuffie’s bagged dust to make it looked unlived in. 

Sora shouldered Riku’s bag. 

“Let’s hurry,” Roxas said, swirling his keys. “I want us all out of here safely.”

Leon caught them in the hall. He looked perfectly calm, as if he had been through this many times. “Roxas, are you guys ready?”

“Yes,” Roxas said, glancing over his shoulder at his assembled group—Namine, Kairi, Xion, and Sora. “But I can’t find Riku or Yuna.”

“They’re out. I’m going to get them myself.”

“But, Riku is part of our—”

Leon interrupted him. “We need to hurry. I don’t have time for you to argue with me.” 

“But—”

“I’m telling you to go and that I’m going to get Riku and Yuna myself, alright? Now, I want you and the others to get out of here.” He glanced away as if he could see something coming. “The police are in a huge hurry to capture us, me especially. There’s to be a slave auction in the square next month. So, even if they catch me, I want you out of here. You know the location of the other camps. You’ve practically memorized those maps. I want you to leave now, just in case. Now!”

Roxas didn’t have a choice. He couldn’t argue, not with Leon. He nodded curtly and brushed past their fearless leader, trying to choke back the knot of tears building up in his throat. The others filed after him, arms loaded with blankets and sheets and other worldly possessions. 

Sora paused only a moment to hand over Riku and Yuna’s things, his eyes speaking desperate volumes. 

Leon gave him a reserved smile and pushed him after the others. “Go. We’ll be fine here.”

Only then did he finally follow. 

“Good kid,” Leon murmured and then turned his attention back to his friends and family. 

He had to get everyone safely out of here. Even if he had to be a decoy and sacrifice himself to the police. He had no doubts that his work—these Rebel Camps as they were affectionately called—would live on even without him. Yuffie would recruit people, Cid and Aeris would keep her in line, Tifa would be Tifa. His work, his fought-for-freedom, would not fall with him if he did have to stay behind. He relished that a moment and then turned his mind back to more pressing matters.

“Alright, let’s move it people!” 

Leon gently helped Aeris steady her heavy medical kit as she staggered past him. She smiled at him gratefully and hurried off. He could hear Cid banging around and swearing, stuffing his weapons into anything and everything he could find. Yuffie blew past him again like a tornado, slamming through room after room. Riku and Yuna appeared at the mouth of the hall. Yuna looked like Yuffie, ready to go, ready for anything, but Riku looked only lost. Tifa jogged past him, breasts bouncing, arms loaded with a box of food from the fridge. Leon glanced out the window again and watched Roxas’s station wagon pull away, tail lights gleaming in the presence of darkness.

Night was falling.

…

A cool night breeze blew in through the open window, keeping Roxas awake as he drove. It didn’t smell like the ocean of the boarding school on the cliffs or the fried foods on the streets of Traverse Town. The air was clean and fresh, heavy with the threat of rain, but fertile-smelling as if flowers could be grown in the very air itself.

Around him, everyone was quiet. If they were asleep, no one was snoring.

The moon was a huge white orb glowing high in the sky, obscured by feathery wisps of white clouds. It looked like a beautiful adoring mother’s face, an illuminated white peony softened with pale warm love and framed by wisps of pale white hair. The stars all around the moon-woman’s face were like diamonds glowing in the waves of her pale delicate tresses, decorated as if she was made up for a party, like she was a goddess. Sitting in the passenger seat, Namine looked like the moon, face pressed against the window, breath fogging the glass.

Roxas didn’t take his foot off the floor until they were well out of Traverse Town. Then, he allowed the car to drift into the shoulder of the road and bent his head over the steering wheel. He took a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart and ragged nerves.

Namine touched his back. The cold of her fingers seeped through his shirt. “Are you alright?”

“Fine, just tired,” he whispered.

Kairi leaned up between the seats. “Roxas, should we stop for the night?”

“I’d like to make it to the rendezvous point at least. In case some of the others make it that far tonight,” he explained. 

“Where’s that?” Kairi asked.

“Dragon Inn. Leon’s friend owns it and guarantees safe passage for any rebel and any slave going through with them.”

“That’s far,” Namine breathed.

“I’ll drive for a while,” Kairi offered. 

Roxas nodded. 

They pulled a short Chinese Fire Drill, doing their best not to wake Xion who was buried under the heap of quilts and sheets she had carried from the house. Sora took Namine’s place in the passenger seat and Roxas took Kairi’s seat in the back. Kairi turned over the engine and pulled carefully out onto the dark street. 

…

Leon heaved in another deep sigh, wishing he hadn’t taken Riku with him. He should’ve listened to Roxas, should’ve had the others wait a moment for Riku to arrive. Or, better yet, he should have sent Yuffie with Aeris, Cid, and Tifa. But, he had chosen to keep Yuffie with him and he had chosen to wait for Riku and Yuna. 

He was the responsible leader.

But, right now, he felt more like an underpaid babysitter. 

Leon sucked in another breath and let it out in an exasperated rush. Then, he turned in his seat and once again shouted, “Would you two knock it off!”

For a stunned moment, the squabbling pair shut up. Yuffie dark eyes were wide and hurt-looking and her pink lips were curved in a wounded frown. Riku’s jade-grass-green eyes glowed in the dark light a misplaced orb of light. His silvery hair caught the light. Between them, Yuna had her arms clasped securely to her chest, looking startled and put-upon. Desperately, she stared at Leon, eyes wide and tragic. The moment of silence only lasted a few seconds and then Yuffie and Riku were at it again.

“I can’t believe Leon even let you in the same car as me!” Yuffie snarled. “He knows how much I hate you!”

“It’s not fair for you to keep hating me! I’ve changed,” Riku protested. “I’m a rebel now, just like you.”

“You’re kidding, jackass?! You will never be anything like me! You have no regard for life!”

“Just because of Vincent!” Riku’s voice dropped considerably. “Is that why you hate me?” he whispered. “What if I apologize?”

“Apologize…” Yuffie whispered.

Leon wanted to shout at them. Come on, just make up already! You’re driving me insane! But he didn’t. He needed to let them work this out or else… he’d never get any peace and quiet and they’d fight all the way to the Dragon Inn. He tightened his hands around the steering wheel until his knuckles locked up and turned white. 

“Yeah.”

“That won’t bring him back,” Yuffie whispered. Her voice cracked, thick with sadness. 

“I know, but… if you forgive me, maybe it’ll help you.”

Yuffie let out a deep shuddering breath. “I don’t know… You killed him. I don’t think I’ll ever get over that.”

Riku averted his eyes. 

It was true. 

In a way, he had killed Vincent. Vincent had been Yuffie’s slave, back when they were still living at home—before Riku went off to the boarding school on the cliffs and Yuffie ran away to the Rebellion. Their parents were much like Riku used to be. They hated slaves, didn’t care a lick about them, and hated the people who did. So, Yuffie became a hated child for them. Vincent was a birthday present, all dark hair and soft red-brown eyes. She loved her slave, her Vincent, even let him sleep with her at night.

Then, Riku had a falling out with their parents. He bought Yuna and started having sex with her, raping her, and they hated that. It was a cardinal sin in their eyes for him to dirty himself by stooping to a slave’s level, even in raping them. So, to get back in their good graces, Riku made up a story—that Vincent had stolen their mother’s jewelry and had been planning to escape. Then, he had beaten Yuffie’s slave within an inch of his life while Yuffie was out at the mall. When she returned, she had gone into a rage and actually fought Riku. 

Their parents had come home to a trashed house. Vincent was laying in a bloody heap on the floor, a few of their mother’s necklaces twisted in his fingers. Their father had pulled a gun. Regardless of the fact that Riku had fallen from grace in their eyes, he was still higher than Yuffie. And if anyone was going down, it would be Yuffie long before it was Riku.   
They would never be exactly certain what happened in the chaos that followed. The first bullet tore through the flesh of Yuffie’s arm, sticking in the wall behind her. She fell into a crouch, tears streaking her face in pain and rage. Their father cocked the hammer and leveled it at her face.

Riku remembered a sudden fear that this had gone too far, that he was going to lose his sister all because he needed to be loved the most. 

Then, Vincent was between them and the bullet tore through his chest. His blood splattered on Yuffie’s face, blinding her eyes with gore. She screamed, gathering Vincent’s fallen body in her arms. She pressed uselessly at the gaping wound, but couldn’t do anything to save him.

Heartless, their parents turned away.

Riku remembered watching Yuffie sobbing, clutching her Vincent close. Her face and hair were streaked with blood. Since Vincent had already been beaten by Riku, his body didn’t stand a chance at surviving a bullet. He had already lost too much blood. 

Yuffie never even got to say goodbye. 

He was gone too quickly.

Then, Yuffie packed up her clothes, leaving behind every reminder of this rich life she had lived for so long. She stole the keys to their parent’s car. She blew out of the house like a tornado, like a force from Heaven or Hell, and never looked back. 

Riku had never expected to see her again. He had never expected to be sitting in the backseat of the car of the leader of the rebellion, begging for her forgiveness. He had never expected slaves to mean anything to him, but now he felt sorrow and regret for everything he had done, for raping Yuna and for contributing to Vincent’s death.

“Yuffie, I am sorry,” Riku whispered.

Yuffie sniffled. Tears were running down her face, shining in the dimness of the car. “I… I think you are… Why?”

“I don’t know,” he murmured. “After Kairi and Roxas sacrificed everything to save Sora, I just… I wanted to know what would make a slave so important. And it made me understand you.”

She sighed heavily and brushed some dark hair behind her ear. “And know you know how much you hurt me.”

“And for nothing… Our parents never cared. I’m so sorry, Yuffie.”

Yuffie put her hand on Riku’s shoulder, reaching around Yuna. “Riku, I… I forgive you.”

“Really?”

Leon let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and tried to loosen his fingers on the wheel. In the backseat, they were silent and calm. Yuna relaxed, rolling her shoulders and resting her hand lightly in her lap. Yuffie slumped against the window, still crying silently. Leon passed Yuffie a small handful of tissues and listened to her dabbing at her face. Riku tipped his head back against the seat, letting his eyes slide closed. 

Finally, some peace and quiet.

…

The road stretched on like an endless black ribbon, curving away into the moonlit night. The clouds had cleared out, leaving the night crystal-clear and calm. The stars gleamed like diamonds set in rich black velvet, like the hem of a beautiful vintage gown left over from the previous century.

Kairi began to nod as she drove at least an hour after switching places with Roxas. The car drifted into the shoulder of the road, bumped along, and jolted Kairi from her sleep. She groaned and rubbed her eyes blearily. “Sora, what’s going on?”

“You nodded off,” he murmured. Sora leaned forward and fiddled with the radio, but couldn’t get a station to come in clear enough to listen to. He sat back in his seat, glanced back at their sleeping friends, and wet his lips. 

“Man, I’m so tired. I don’t know how I’m going to stay awake…”

“Do you want me to sing for you?”

“You’d do that?”

“Well, I don’t want you to kill us all,” Sora joked.

Kairi smiled but it turned into a yawn. 

Sora made himself comfortable in the passenger seat, tipping his head back and closing his eyes, cracking them open occasionally to make sure Kairi hadn’t drifted off the road again. He took in a deep breath and made a small sound deep in his chest to clear his voice. Then, his lips parted and the same beautiful sound that Kairi had heard when he played piano drifted from his mouth. His voice smoldered in his chest. A critic once said that voices made love on stage and Sora’s voice was like love itself.

"No one knows what it's like  
To be the bad man  
To be the sad man  
Behind blue eyes  
And no one knows what it's like  
To be hated  
To be fated  
To telling only lies 

"But my dreams they aren't as empty  
As my conscience seems to be  
I have hours, only lonely  
My love is vengeance  
That's never free 

"No one knows what it's like  
To feel these feelings  
Like I do  
And I blame you  
No one bites back as hard  
On their anger  
None of my pain and woe  
Can show through 

"But my dreams they aren't as empty  
As my conscience seems to be  
I have hours, only lonely  
My love is vengeance  
That's never free 

"No one knows what it's like  
To be mistreated  
To be defeated  
Behind blue eyes  
And no one knows how to say  
That they're sorry  
And don't worry  
I'm not telling lies 

"But my dreams they aren't as empty  
As my conscience seems to be  
I have hours, only lonely  
My love is vengeance  
That's never free 

"No one knows what it's like  
To be the bad man  
To be the sad man  
Behind blue eyes."

For a moment, the silence hung between them. 

“Do you still feel that way?” Kairi asked. 

Sora shook his head. “I have hope, Kairi. I am… happy.”

Kairi glanced over at him and took in the small smile that graced his face. She felt her chest fill with warmth. Her heart began to pound in her breast, throbbing emptily. She thought of his touch on her body, of his hands kneading her breasts just a few hours ago. It seemed so long ago, like another life time. The car trundled over the dips and bumps in the shoulder of the road again and Kairi swerved them back onto the pavement. 

In the back seat, Roxas’s blonde head poked between the front seats. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Kairi murmured. “We were just talking.”

“Did you run something over?”

“No. I’m just getting tired.”

“I’ll spell you. Pull over,” Roxas offered. 

“No, it’s okay. I can see the inn,” Kairi said. 

Sure enough, glowing like a lighthouse, like a beacon in the storm, was the Dragon Inn. It was too dark to make much out, but from what Kairi could see in the headlights, it was a tall Victorian-style building much like the Rebel Camp they had just left except this building was in perfect condition. It had a wrap-around porch, was at least six-stories high, and had a tall gabled roof tiled in black. It was painted deep jade-green, like dragon scales, and the windows glowed with amber light. Cheerful sounds of laughter and the smells of fried food floated from the open lower windows. The inn looked safe, like shelter, but there were no cars they recognized in the parking lot. 

They were alone.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	26. The Dragon Inn

Kind of a weird chapter here. 

Lots of fun new character developments.

Lots of words. This is a very long chapter. Try to hang in there!

X X X

The police barged into the decrepit Victorian-style mansion, guns drawn, and searched each and every dusty room. The house was sparsely furnished as if people had been living in it, but the entire place was deserted save a dusty little kitten that crawled from beneath a bunk bed in one of the upper bedrooms, looked at the officers, mewled softly, and ran away out the broken window. 

…

The interior of the Dragon Inn was all warm highly-polished wood. A huge fire crackled in the big stone fireplace, slow-roasting what looked like boar, filling the room with the smell of wood smoke and cooking meat. There was a mess of different sized and shaped tables organized in the big foyer. A few people were sitting around them, drinking and eating and generally soaking up the heat from the fire. There were three other doors in the room, two of which were labeled Gentlemen and Ladies with little people carved into the wood and painted nondescript gold. The third was neatly carved with the word Slaves. There was a big staircase going up to the next floor. Tucked in the corner was a spiral staircase that most likely went all the way to the top floor with a stop on each floor. A more direct route as the big staircase most likely wound all throughout the building. One wall was completely dominated by a long bar with a line of haphazard barstools shuffled around its edge. Behind the bar was a middle-aged man with a lot of thick black hair and big black eyes. He was wearing a red shirt and long black slacks and he was wiping down the shining bar as if it was indeed dirty. His dark eyes lit on the fleeing rebels when they entered, but passed no judgments on their bedraggled states and he could have passed a lot of judgment. 

Kairi was still in her pajamas, having been getting ready for bed when Yuffie’s shouting came in. Sora’s arms were so cut and bandaged in places that he looked close to suicidal. Xion was half-asleep, swaying on her feet like a drunk, and her eyes were red-rimmed. Namine, small and fair and timid-looking, had a dagger stuffed in the back of her jeans. Roxas had a big red mark on his face where Xion had punched him out of reflex for waking her up by shouting in her ear.

Roxas went right up to the bar, put his palms flat on it, and said softly, “King Mickey.” There seemed to be a hidden inflection in his words.

The bartender’s eyes flashed to Roxas’s companions. “Ah, quite a rough night for traveling, eh?”

“A very rough night,” Roxas said. 

“I see, how many rooms do you need?”

Roxas glanced back over his shoulder and Namine held up fingers for him. “Three,” he told Mickey.

Mickey slid reached beneath the bar, slid three keys to Roxas, and tipped his chin at the staircase. “Second floor, balconies,” he said. 

“Thanks.” He handed Kairi one of the keys and tipped his head at Sora, who was staring hard at the bartender as if his life depended on something he was waiting to see. “Wait with him?”

“Of course.”

Then, Roxas took Namine by her hand and Xion by her shirt and guided them up the stairs. Sora snapped from his reverie, but still hesitated, glancing between the bartender Mickey and Roxas as he walked away, and Kairi stayed with him. 

“Um, Sora,” she ventured after a full minute of Sora doing nothing but staring. “I think we should be going up with the others.”

“I’ll catch up,” he said softly. His voice sounded as if it was coming from a long way off. “I want to… talk to Mickey.”

Kairi didn’t leave, but she stood there silently watching as Sora approached the bar and slid onto one of the stools. For a moment, it looked as if Sora wasn’t saying anything at all, just sitting there with his elbows resting on the bar. Mickey leaned down at eye level with Sora and Kairi could see his lips moving, but couldn’t hear what he was saying. Then, his face split into a beautiful smile and his eyes welled with tears. Mickey leaned across the bar, put his big hands on Sora’s shoulders, and awkwardly embraced him. 

Kairi smiled softly, watching as Sora hugged Mickey in return. She backed up, sat down at one of the tables in front of the fire, and waited.

“You made it out,” Mickey breathed into Sora. “That’s wonderful. I wanted to steal you away myself, but I would have jeopardized everything. You know that, right?”

“Yes, you showed me my first kindness as a slave and I’ve been through a lot since then. Knowing that at least one person cared about this part of me was a comfort,” Sora murmured. “But I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. I didn’t think I’d get a chance to tell you that.”

“I’m glad you’re alright. Tell me, are you a part of Leon’s rabble now?”

“Yes.”

“How’d that come about? You came in with those people and I only take the blonde girl as another slave. The others, no.”

“After you saw me last, I was sold again, to a horrible man. Tristan. He beat me within an inch of my life, tortured me endlessly. My case actually went to court when he finally brought me to the hospital and they saw what he had done to me. The court even ruled in my favor and took me away from him. After that, I was sold to a pair of doctors and managed to survive. Then, I was sold to Kairi.” Sora smiled a little and also winced. “She hated me at first, but I’d like to think she cares for me now. Anyway, Tristan came back and kidnapped all of us, but I killed him before he could hurt anyone.”

“You killed him?”

Sora nodded. “Yeah. Then, I was taken away from Kairi and thrown in jail to await my death.”

Mickey looked him over, a question in his dark eyes. Then, why aren’t you dead?

“They broke me out,” Sora said with a wry smile. “Roxas—my brother—and Kairi and Xion and Namine broke me out of prison. Then, Riku brought us to his sister Yuffie and we joined the rebellion. And now, here I am…”

“You’ve had quite a life, my friend.”

“Yeah. I’m glad to be alive.”

“More like lucky to be alive.”

“That too,” Sora said with a small sad laugh. “I’ve been through a lot, but… I’m happy with my life now. I have people who care about me and I’d like to think I’ve made a difference in their lives. I found my brother…” His voice was soft and sweet, all at once happy and disbelieving. He had never thought he’d find his brother.

That brought a small smile to Mickey’s soft face. 

The first time Mickey had met Sora, he had still been just a kid—maybe nine or ten. He had been beaten and raped multiple times that night. Mickey would always remember the haughty young woman who paraded into the Inn with poor Sora dragging along behind her. Sora had been half-naked, black and blue and bloody, and his stiff gait said that something had been shoved deep inside his vulnerable body. The woman had eaten more food than Mickey had ever thought possible, leaving scraps on every plate, but refusing to feed Sora. Then, she tied Sora to the post outside on the porch like a dog and flounced off to her room. After Mickey closed up and he was sure the wench was fast asleep, he stole out to see Sora. 

The pitiful sight that awaited him would be something that haunted his dreams for years to come. Sora had been huddled against the banister, legs drawn against his chest, arms around them, face buried. His body was tense and shaking with cold and pain. Blood had pooled around him. Mickey knelt down and pressed a warm mug of cider into Sora’s clenched fingers and the child jolted away as if struck, slamming his spine into the banister with a solid painful-sounding WHUMP that sent a spike of anguish shooting into the depths of his beautiful cerulean eyes. Sora was so afraid to be touched, as if he had never been touched kindly in his life, but Mickey was patient. He waited. 

Over an hour later, he had convinced Sora to take the mug from him and drink. Then, he cajoled him into eating something. In the course of three hours and well into the chilly night, Mickey had him fed and wrapped in a heavy quilt and had earned the wary child’s trust. Those cerulean eyes glowed in the dark, speaking volumes of fear and pain and despair. Finally, Sora’s story came pouring out of him, that he had been sold to pay his families debts and that he had gone in his brother’s place, that he hurt so badly on the inside, how he had been beaten and raped and starved and hurt. He told Mickey that he had something pushed up inside him, something big and rough that was tearing him apart when he so much as shifted position. He cried, big heart-wrenching sobs that chilled Mickey to the core. Even worse was that he hadn’t been able to do anything to help Sora, not even contact Leon, for the next day the young woman left, taking Sora away with her. 

Mickey had stood at the window, watching the child’s body shake and tremble as he walked away, watching fresh blood begin to blossom on the back of his crusted pants, watching him begin to cry in silent agony, and the young woman finally strike him down. 

Mickey didn’t think he’d ever see Sora again, dead or alive.

But now, sitting before him was not the small broken child he remembered having been tied to his banister on that cold night. This was a young man who had been through hell and triumphed, managing to still find goodness and light in his heart. Now, the only thing similar between the injured child that had been bleeding on the Inn’s porch that night and this beautiful haunted young man before him were those wonderful cerulean orbs that still spoke volumes that Sora himself would never speak aloud. 

Mickey smiled at Sora and said one more time, “It’s good to see you, kid. I’m glad you’re okay.”

Sora’s lips curved into a beautiful smile and he turned on the stool, eyes scanning the room. He spotted Kairi, slumped over the table with her head pillowed on her folded arms. “I guess I should be getting to bed,” he said softly. “It’s wonderful to see you, Mickey.”

“You too. I’ll see you in the morning then. I’ll have a good breakfast ready for you.”

“That’d be great,” Sora said with a soft smile. Then, he crossed the room, gathered Kairi up in his arms so that her head lolled against his chest and her fingers fisted weakly in his shirt, and walked away up the stairs. 

Mickey let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. It was good to see that Sora was still alive and, better yet, well. It did his aged heart good. Mickey saw too much sadness and pain in his life. He was too deep in the rebellion, but too far on the edge to feel as if he was doing any good in the struggle to bring love and equality back to the world. All he did was provide safe passage for Leon and his crew, but now he realized that maybe he had in fact done more. He had impacted Sora, shown him a small kindness, and it was coming back to him now in full.

He wiped down the bar and looked over his inn. It was about time to close up for the night, but he left the door open… in case Leon arrived…

...

The morning broke cold and grey and ultimately bleak and desolate. Dark thunderheads loomed in the distance, promising a downpour of rain later. A chill wind was blowing in from the east, whipping down over the mountains like a force to be reckoned with. It howled in the eaves of the Dragon Inn, making the whole place sound like the dragon it was named for was beating at the doors. The dark surrounding forest looked haunted and threatening.

Roxas was standing at the window when Namine woke up, looking out. She had started sleeping later and deeper than him. He no longer woke her in the night, crying out with nightmares in his sleep. Since being reunited with his brother, all of his dark dreams had ceased and she found that her own had ended as well. 

“Roxas?” she murmured and sat up. The blankets dropped around her hips and she examined her pale shoulders. She had been stripped of most of her clothes, leaving her in only her bra and panties. Her clothing was neatly folded at the foot of the bed, waiting for her, but she did not rush to dress. Roxas would never hurt her. “What is it?”

“The weather looks bad,” was all he said and it sounded as if that meant a lot to him.

“So?”

He turned to face her and his blue eyes were almost hopeless. 

“Roxas,” Namine breathed. She sat up, kneeling at the edge of the bed, blankets sliding from her. “What’s wrong?”

He hesitated, but finally came to sit beside her on the bed. He put his fingertips on her bare thigh and gently rubbed her soft skin, watching the goose bumps rise on her skin. She laid her hand over his, pressing his palm flush against her. Slowly, he lifted his eyes to hers. 

“I talked to Mickey this morning.”

“And?”

“No one’s arrived.”

Namine bit her lip. “Maybe they just decided to stop for the night…”

Roxas was already shaking his head. “Leon would’ve wanted to get here as soon as possible. Something must have happened.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I’m going to leave. I’m going to head back and look for them. I have to find Leon.” He stood up abruptly, as if someone had lit a match under his ass, and took several steps toward the door like nothing would stop him.

Namine bolted to her feet and threw her arms around his waist from behind. It was a classic ploy, a cheap move to get him to stay, but it worked. Roxas stopped dead with his hand on the knob and slowly turned to embrace her fully. He buried his face in her hair, breathing in the scent of her and feeling her small slender body pressed full against his. Right now she was all beautiful naked flesh and smooth whiteness. He gently ran his hands down her curves, relishing the way she shivered at his touch. 

Slowly, she lifted her face to his and stared deep into his eyes. He felt as if she was seeing everything inside him with those glowing far-seeing blue eyes of hers… Every dark desire, every fear, every desperate wish… Everything he wanted to keep hidden from everyone else. 

Roxas wasn’t Sora. He wasn’t a soft and beautiful musician with self-sacrificing qualities. 

When Tristan had had them all in his cave, he had thought of giving up Namine, of giving up Kairi and Xion—Hell, he had even wanted to give up Sora who he had searched for for so long—just to save his own worthless hide. He didn’t want to be hurt and he would have done anything to avoid the pain, even sell out his friends and his brother. 

Roxas was a coward, a weasel. 

He had wanted to live though he would never have the guts to change anything in his life. He wouldn’t have saved his brother from his death sentence if Namine hadn’t been up all night convincing him. He wouldn’t have joined the rebellion if Kairi wasn’t pushing behind him, encouraging him. He would never be like Xion, uncaring and free to be who she was and do whatever she wanted with no concern for what anyone else thought about her. 

Roxas felt like a fraud, leading them and acting as their leader in this situation. He was no leader. He was a toad, a low crouching toad in the mud, covered in warts from fearing and sweating too much. And now, he was ready to explode in terror. He was afraid that if Leon didn’t come back, everyone would look to him. And he would have no idea what to do. He could lead them. He couldn’t put thoughts of others before himself. He couldn’t be that caring, that selfless. And he couldn’t free slaves. He couldn’t bear being hated and wanted. He didn’t want to be a criminal. 

He loved his reputation. 

Abruptly, he jerked away from Namine, watching the puzzlement flash through her eyes. She stood there, vulnerable and pure white in her plain white panties and padded white bra with her pale platinum tresses strewn across her shoulders and her alabaster porcelain-pale skin. The only spot of color on her were her gorgeous crystal-ball-blue eyes. Slowly, she hugged herself, lean fingers wrapping over the joints of her shoulders. 

“What is it?” she whispered. “What’s wrong?”

It was like she already knew… 

Roxas looked away from her, ashamed. He picked up her clothes and thrust them into her hands on his way out the door, ignoring the small touch of fear that graced her deep eyes and the way her teeth caught her soft bottom lip and chewed it nervously. He was such a coward that he couldn’t—wouldn’t—even look her in the eyes. He slammed the door behind him and didn’t look at anything but the floor. 

… 

When Kairi woke up, she was tucked neatly in bed with the covers pulled up her chin. Sora was curled up beside her, shirtless, lying on his side with the soft turn of his waist smooth and sinuous. The blankets were pushed down to his hips, twisted slightly. His back was a fortress of bone, rising and falling steadily. Kairi rolled over and gently ran her fingers over the curve of his ribcage, feeling his muscles ripple beneath his soft alabaster flesh. He made a soft sound in his sleep and rolled over to face her. Kairi smiled softly and tenderly cupped his face. He nuzzled into her hand, lips curving into a small happy smile. She leaned forward and lightly kissed the corner of his mouth. 

His eyes fluttered open, exposing a small slit of cerulean blue, and he smiled a little wider. “Good morning,” he whispered. “Will you kiss me again?”

“Of course,” she murmured. She leaned forward and kissed him again, twining her fingers through his hair. This time, she stopped before it got too hot and heavy. 

Sora’s cheeks were tinged lightly pink and his lips were moist and parted. “Thanks,” he whispered. Then, he leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips. He looked shy and nervous afterwards, shifting uneasily on the bed so Kairi pecked him on the cheek, enjoying the way his face reddened. 

“You’re cute,” she purred. She snuggled up against him, gently stroking the bare flesh of his stomach with the pads of her fingers. She fell back asleep shortly afterward, lulled to sleep by the warmth of his body and the steady beating of his heart.

The next thing she knew, she was waking up alone in bed to a knocking on the door. She got up, stumbled her way over to the door, and opened it to find Xion standing on the other side with her hands on her hips. She was wearing black jeans and a black tank top and her white Converse sneakers. If it wasn’t for the sneakers, she’d look like an escaped assassin, but the white shoes ruined the all-black image. 

“Goodness, you’re a fright. Did you just wake up, lazy bones?”

“Yeah. Where’s Sora?” Kairi asked with a yawn.

“He came down for breakfast. He sent me to wake you up,” Xion said. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you myself.”

“Huh?”

Xion pushed Kairi backwards through the door and shut it behind her. Then, she leaned against it, all casual and curious. “So, what’s going on between you and Sora?” Xion was never one to mince words when she could get right to the point.

“What?” Kairi sputtered.

“Don’t say what. You know exactly what I mean,” Xion said and put her hands on her hips again. “I know something has to be going on between you two. Namine and Roxas, too. I’m the only one who woke up alone this morning.”

Kairi’s cheeks tinged pink. Xion had been sleeping alone a lot. Sora shared her bed almost every night since they had sprung him from jail. Namine and Roxas also regularly slept together, though with more tension between hem than Sora and Kairi. Xion might have been a moron at times, but she wasn’t completely oblivious or stupid. She ran a hand through her cranberry tresses, trying to smooth down her wild sleep-mussed bed-head hair-out-to-there.

“That is not going to work. Your hair is even more wild than Cloud’s this morning.”

“Cloud? Is he here?” 

Kairi hadn’t seen Cloud since the day they all arrived at the Rebel Camp more than two weeks ago. Shortly after, he had left on some big mission and they hadn’t seen him since. She was a little worried that he would bumble right into the seized mansion, but Cloud wasn’t an idiot. He would have been Leon’s second-in-command, but Cloud wasn’t exactly a people person. He was volatile and dangerous with those flinty blue eyes of his, prone to random violence. Yuffie was far more amicable. 

Xion shook her head. “No, it’s still just us, but I’m sure they’ll show soon. Anyway, no changing the subject.”

Kairi looked sheepish. “I don’t know, Xion.”

“You don’t know? What do you mean you don’t know?”

“Well, Sora’s so nice and so sweet, but he’s also so hurt. I mean, just this morning he asked me to kiss him again and he sounded like he would break into a million pieces if I said no. I just… I feel like I’m going to hurt him.”

Xion sighed. “Yeah, he’s a sweetheart.” Then, her head snapped up. “Wait, what do you mean kiss him again?”

Kairi’s face grew redder. “Well, the night we left the camp, we were in our room and no one was around. We got to talking and he told me he wanted me to kiss him, to touch him because I’d never…” she lowered her eyes, sadness choking her voice. “Because I’d never raped him.”

Xion made a lost sound. “Because you’d never raped him?”

“Yeah. He trusts me because I’ve never hurt him. I didn’t want to take advantage of him while he was vulnerable, while he was healing,” Kairi explained to Xion. “He told me about his old masters. He said they liked to rape him because he looked vulnerable, because they thought they were breaking him.”

“That’s awful.” 

Kairi nodded. “So I kissed him,” she whispered. She sucked in a breath, remembering the feeling of his cold fingers on her heated body and the taste of his mouth. “But, I got… really into it. I wanted to go all the way with him.”

“Did you?”

“No.” She shook her head. “He was afraid.” She was quiet for a long moment. “Then, Yuffie came in.”

“And since then, you’ve kissed him again?”

“Yeah,” Kairi murmured. “This morning. He asked me to.”

Xion smiled. “It sounds like you two are warming up nicely.” Then, she dramatically put a hand to her head, gasped demurely, and said theatrically, “And now it is I alone who has no one to love!” She peeked one eyes open at Kairi and burst into a fit of giggles. Kairi wasn’t too far behind her. Soon they were both laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe and Sora came up to see what was taking them so long, but seeing him only induced a fresh batch of giggling and they were back to square one.

…

Kairi, Xion, and Sora made their way downstairs a little while later. Kairi was freshly dressed and washed up with her crazy hair tamed back in a long braid, courtesy of Xion. Xion was all cheer and wild Yuffie-like attitude again. Sora was his usual quiet and reserved self as he always was in the morning. He normally didn’t start relaxing and opening up until the end of the day. Namine and Roxas were holding down a table spread with such a smorgasbord of food that Kairi felt fat just looking at it. 

“Courtesies of Mickey,” Sora said by way of explanation.

The trio sat down around the table with Namine and Roxas, who were giving each other lots of elbow room and looking strange, and dug in. Everything was mouth-watering melt-in-your-mouth delicious and Mickey was attentive to everything they might need, especially Sora. They were about halfway through their morning meal when the front door exploded inward.

X X X

Any guesses at who blew the door open?

Questions, comments, concerns?


	27. Dark Return

Everyone who guessed Cloud… 

Congratulations!

I realized I had to put Cloud in here somewhere. I’d forgotten all about him during all my Rebel Camp chapters. Everyone else had a nice little scene, but he had his introduction and then—poof! He vanished, so here he is! Back from the Grave!

**ParadiseAvenger’s Recommendation Board:**

Where the Dark Things Are by Cartoon Moomba!

It’s fantastic. There’s a wonderful style in this story that I could NEVER hope to match. It doesn’t have too many reviews and it definitely deserves them! So, if anyone would like to POP in and read and review, that would be awesome! It's over there on Fanfiction.net.

(It’s in my “Favorite Stories” tab if anyone is too lazy to look for it!)

X X X

The howling wind outside slammed the door open, knocking into the wall so hard that then entire building seemed to tremble. The cold breeze that gusted in chilled everyone to the bone for a moment before the fire reared up from the sudden rush of oxygen and chased the cold away. The door slammed shut again like the sound of a condemning judge’s gavel. All heads snapped in the direction of the door and took in the visitor in a strange state of shock. 

Xion was the first to break free from her stunned stupor. She exploded to her feet as if she was shot out of a cannon. “Cloud?!” she shouted. 

It was Cloud. He looked bedraggled, as if he had spent the night sleeping in the dirt. His blond hair was spiked wildly around his head, windblown and doubly crazy. He looked like Xion, clad in all black but he had on heavy black leather boots with thick soles. He was splattered with mud and armed to the teeth. He laid eyes on them, glanced at Mickey, gave a barely perceivable nod, and then pulled up a chair at their table. Without saying a word, he dug into the meal and ate for at least three minutes without breathing while the others looked on, desperate for whatever news he had to offer. Finally, he lifted his head from his plate and met each of their eyes before speaking.

“I know you know that the mansion was seized,” he began. “Leon asked me to swing by and check things out.”

Kairi sucked in a breath, fearing this information. Had anyone been caught? Had anyone been hurt? Been killed?

Cloud offered her a soft smile. “Everyone’s okay. They all made it out, but everyone shot off in different directions. Tifa, Aeris, and Cid went off to one of the western camps. Leon, Yuffie, Riku, and Yuna had all intentions of coming here but were sidetracked by the slave caravan that was heading into Traverse Town. I haven’t been able to get in touch with Leon since he told me they were taking it down. I’m worried about him and I’m heading back to check it out, but I wanted to stop in and make sure you were all doing okay, first.”

“We’re okay,” Kairi said. “We were so worried.”

“We’ll come back with you to help Leon,” Xion said quickly, putting her hands down on the table.

Cloud shook his head and took a long drink of hot coffee. Then, he wrapped both hands around the warm mug and rolled his shoulders. “No,” he said. “You are all to either remain here with Mickey, working with him, until this all blows over or go to one of the camps in the west and try to meet up with Tifa’s group.”

“But I want to help Leon!” Xion protested. “I want to go back with you!”

Cloud looked at her, pinning her down with those sharp flinty stony blue eyes of his. “Your place is here, with these people,” he gestured to the assembly at the table—Namine, Roxas, Sora, and Kairi. “You five are a team now. Leon will expect you to remain together under any circumstances, regardless of your own personal feelings. We operate as units.”

“What about you?” Xion demanded. “You’re all alone.”

“I’m a single unit,” Cloud said matter-of-factly. “And you are to stay with them.” He flicked his eyes to Kairi and then to Roxas. “I only dropped by to relay information.” Then, he stood up from the table, paced over to Mickey, spoke with him a moment, accepted a small package of supplies, and then blew out the door like a gust of wind. 

Xion bolted to her feet, tripped over her chair in the process and almost went sprawling on her face, raced to the door, and flung it open. The wind gusted through her like skewers, blowing soaking rain into her face and whipping her hair around her head in stinging tendrils like smoke. “Cloud!” she shouted into the rattling trees, her voice blown back by the gale. But she didn’t even have a chance to chase after him, he was long gone. 

Cloud had vanished into the storm like he was part of it.

Xion slammed the door, slunk back to the table, and slammed herself down next to Kairi. She shook her head like a dog, flinging water all over the others sitting around the table. She was glaring at the door like it had done something to her.

Kairi wiped some water from her face with her napkin and buttered a slice of toast. “It’s good to know everyone’s okay,” she said, trying to distract Xion and her building anger. 

“Yeah,” Roxas muttered and stabbed his sausage fiercely. 

“Roxas, is something wrong?” Kairi asked, observing the angry way he was eating. She felt stuck between a rock and a hard place, wedged between annoyed Xion glaring at inanimate objects and agitated Roxas stabbing at his meal as if it was evil and dangerous.

Namine’s eyes flashed up. 

Then, she abruptly turned to Sora and struck up a small conversation in hushed tones. Sora leaned close to her, almost conspiratorially, whispering, but it was only for a moment. Then, they both sat back and continued eating in silence. 

“I’m fine,” Roxas said tersely. He cleaned his plate, stood up, handed it over to Mickey, and stalked away upstairs. Suddenly, he didn’t seem angry so much as… threatened. 

Xion finally rejoined the conversation, relaxing her posture and growling under her breath. “I wanted to go back. I miss Leon and Yuffie, not so much Shark, but… I guess I’m worried that he’ll get a swelled head without me around to knock him down a little.”

Kairi smiled at her friend. “Cloud’s going back to be with them and he said everyone made it out alright. I think that’s wonderful. And we can go meet up with Tifa, Aeris, and Cid in the western camp.” She stared into her toast. “I wish Cloud had been a little more specific about which camp they were at.”

“He does leave a lot to be desired,” Xion snapped.

Kairi grinned. “Like what?”

“Like… like…” Xion sputtered, sounding a little hopeless. It was clear no tragic flaws popped immediately to her mind. Finally she forced out, “Like… like common courtesy!”

“But not good looks?”

“No, of course not. Have you looked at the guy—?” Xion cut herself off, face flushing. 

Kairi giggled, but didn’t make fun of her. She continued on as if Xion hadn’t had an epic Freudian slip. “It is Cloud. You can’t expect too much. He’s a lone wolf.”

Xion glowered at Kairi, but finally relaxed with a deep sigh. “I guess I’m just relived everyone is alright.”

“Aren’t we all?” 

…

By noon, the wind outside had worked itself up into a veritable gale. Ice-cold rain was coming down in slanting sheets, pattering on the windows as if it wanted to get in. Thunder crashed as loud as cannon fire and the lightning lit up the world like a strobe light. The howling winds sounded like a beast that wanted very badly to tear down the door and wreak havoc inside. Mickey took the storm in stride though. He went around outside with Sora, closing up the heavy shutters and stacked the fire up even higher in the grate. Now, everyone was safely inside with a small but powerful lantern burning on the porch as a beacon to travelers caught in the storm. Then, Mickey brewed up a nice pot of hot chocolate and treated them all.

By nightfall, the storm was more like a hurricane, picking at the seams of the building and blowing down the chimney. Mickey was cold and wet and shivering so Kairi promised they would watch the inn while he took a hot shower and got warmed up—defrosted was more like it. The inn was quiet. Sora and Kairi were sitting at the bar, Xion was lounging dangerously close to the fire and steaming Sora’s damp clothing dry, Namine was drawing at a table, and Roxas was playing solitaire. All the other tenants were holed up in their rooms, bundled up snug in bed until breakfast the next day. It seemed the night promised to be incredibly boring, especially without Mickey around to entertain them.

Kairi was a little worried about Cloud being out in this storm, but he was a big boy. He could handle a heck of a lot more than a lot of rain and wind. She heaved in a deep breath and glanced over at Sora. His face was smooth and peaceful and he was staring into his tea with a soft mysterious smile on his face. He was the only one peaceful, though. Xion was still worked up over Cloud, Roxas was wound tight with some unknown tension, and Namine appeared equally troubled. Kairi was planning to wade through all those problems later, once Mickey returned to watch the inn, but she never got the chance. 

The door blew open with a loud bang and a burst of wind and rain gusted in. The fire smoked unhappily, choking Xion out. Standing in the doorway was a small slender figure wrapped in a heavy brown wool blanket. There was a mess of torn fabric wrapped around and around the person’s face like a scarf and some bits of an orange outfit peeked between the gaps of the blanket. Xion stood form her place at the fire, allowing this strange traveler to take her place. The stranger did so almost eagerly and began to steam in front of the fire. 

Kairi brewed a cup of hot tea, added a dab of honey and a spot of whiskey as she had seen Mickey do, and walked over to the stranger. “Here, have a drink. It’ll warm your bones.”

“I don’t need my bones warmed,” the stranger rasped. “I have one foot in the grave already.” The voice was female and vaguely familiar. Maybe Kairi would’ve placed it if it hadn’t been so weary and bleak, so depressed and lost. 

Kairi hesitated. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as all that,” she said finally.

“You’re right. It’s not.” The strange woman smoothed the ragged blanket over her skinny legs. “At least the people that took my love from me…” she muttered something unintelligible and reached out to warm her hands at the fire. Her fingers were twisted, knuckles swollen, and nails bitten bloody right to the quick. 

“I’m sorry,” Kairi said softly. “I didn’t understand what you said.”

She lifted her face, exposing a torn expanse of flesh at her chin. It looked clawed at, as if she had ripped the skin from her face with her fingernails. “I said, at least the people that took my love from me are close at hand…”

“Close at hand?” Kairi repeated. “You mean here?”

The stranger nodded. “Yes, so close… I can taste them.” She licked her lips, showing yellow teeth and an open sore at the corner of her mouth. “I can’t wait to get my hands on them. I can’t wait to hurt them like they hurt me.”

“Revenge isn’t the best choice,” Kairi told the stranger. 

By now, everyone’s eyes were on them. Sora was on his feet behind her, coiled, tensed to spring. Xion had her fingers curled into fists, posture wary and expression puzzled. Like Kairi, she thought the voice sounded familiar, but couldn’t place it through the thick layers of depression and anger. Namine’s hands were wrapped around a sharpened pencil, eyes squinted and nervous. Roxas hung back, unsure, looking like he was deciphering something. 

“You’d think different if it was your love…” She made a small growling sound deep in her chest like a cornered animal. “I know you would.”

Kairi took a step back, feeling a bubble of fear building up in her chest.

“No, don’t step away,” the stranger crooned. “I’m not through with you yet.” 

Then, she lifted her head and pushed back the coils of tattered fabric that hide her face from sight. Greasy locks of brown hair tumbled out, curled wildly as if slept on or ripped at, and dead flashing green eyes shot through Kairi like chips of ice. Her face was ripped apart, flesh picked bloody and raked with claw marks. She had open sores around her mouth and her bloodied cracked lips were pulled back over her teeth in what might have been a smile or a sneer. There were dark deadening black circles taking up most of her face like big swollen bruises and her flat lightless eyes were sunk way back in her head. Her brown hair hung in strings strands around her face, plastered to her bloodied lips and sticking in the scabs on her face. She had the façade of a grinning skull, the face of a rotting corpse, the pale waxy flesh of a cadaver. 

“S…Selphie,” Kairi breathed, hardly able to believe her eyes. 

Like she was being pulled on an invisible string, she rose from the chair. The rolls of filthy fabric slipped down over her shoulders, hanging off her like the wrappings of a mummy. The blanket parted to reveal a tattered and mud-smeared orange jumpsuit. She took a staggering step towards Kairi and pulled a long-barreled gun from somewhere inside the folds of her heavy cloak. She aimed it languidly at Kairi and pulled the hammer back with a click.

“Wait, Selphie, you don’t want to do this,” Xion said, sticking her nose into the fray.

Without a passing glance, Selphie turned and put a bullet in Xion’s shoulder. Xion went down on her knees like a house of cards, clutching her shoulder and whimpering in agony. Blood splattered across the hardwood floor and dripped between her clenched fingers. Namine made a move to go to her and Selphie’s eyes flashed in her direction like a spotlight. Namine stopped dead before Selphie could pull the trigger again, hands up in a placating gesture.

Kairi lost her breath somewhere in her chest. Her heart was pounding so hard she was sure it was going to burst out of her chest. “Xion!” slipped out of her mouth like a cry. 

Selphie had turned on her before she could so much as blink, gun leveled at her face, finger squeezing the trigger. The gunfire was as loud as thunder from the raging storm outside and seemed to resonate in Kairi’s skull for what felt like an eternity. In that split second, something slammed into her, rocketing sparks of white-hot pain through her nerve-endings. It took her a moment to realize her face was pressed painfully between Sora’s chest and the floor, grains of the wood imprinting on her flesh. She could hear his heart thundering behind the cage of ribs. 

“Sora,” she breathed desperately. 

“Stop,” he murmured, breathing in quiet gasps. 

Slowly, cautiously, he lifted his face and stared at Selphie, taking her in. She was insane. Her mind was infected with Tristan’s perverse cruelties. She thought she loved him and that they had taken him away from her. She was even more dangerous than Tristan like this.

This kind of insane rage… there was no stopping it! 

They had to get out.

That was the only way they were going to make it out alive.

There would be no stopping Selphie.

They had to run.

X X X

Dun, dun, dun! The plot thickens!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	28. Separation

This will probably be my last update before I leave for vacation on Friday. I won’t be back until after Christmas, so you’re all on your own.

Tons of point of views in this chapter and probably the next one. Try to keep up.

X X X

Since there was no beating Selphie, they would simply have to escape her. She was crazed, insane, feeling no pain for her rage, infuriated, and dangerously armed with the six-shot revolver. There was no knowing for sure if she had more bullets somewhere inside her ragged cloak or tucked deep into her orange jumpsuit. Either way, reloading would take a moment and she had already emptied one bullet into Xion’s shoulder. Sora was crouched low over Kairi who was laid out on the floor beneath him, shaking like a leaf. Roxas was standing far back with a few tables between him and Selphie. In front of him was Namine, halfway to Xion’s bloody side, pale white fingers tightened into fists. A thick pool of crimson was spreading around Xion’s knees and she was beginning to look pale. Namine met Sora’s cerulean eyes. The firelight sparkled in her jewel-sapphire eyes. 

The fire…

Sora levied himself up on his hands, legs coiling beneath him. He flashed his eyes at Namine and she gave a barely perceivable nod. Her wispy pale platinum hair kissed her cheeks and stuck to the sweat on her neck, betraying her fear. 

…

“Selphie, please.” 

Roxas started as if struck. 

Namine’s voice went through him like a knife and he felt the reverberation trembling in his guts. What was she thinking? She was attracting Selphie’s attention and she seemed to be doing it on purpose. Her voice was strong and unwavering. She even took a step forward towards Selphie as if provoking the viper to strike.

Roxas was a coward. 

What was his beautiful frail Namine thinking, trying to take on crazy armed Selphie? He couldn’t even imagine what would prompt her to do such a thing. Then, he saw Sora’s body coiling to spring as Selphie turned slightly, putting her back to him. They were working together, preparing to take on a crazy armed woman. 

How could they…?

…

Suddenly, Xion fell over sideways like a felled tree. SLAM! And it didn’t look like she was going to be getting up again anytime soon. Her hand lay palm-up, fingers curled like the legs of a dead spider and gleaming with ruby-red blood. Blood oozed from the bullet wound on her shoulder, slow and almost stagnant. 

Then, all hell broke loose.

…

Sora exploded to his feet, rushing Selphie from behind. She sensed his approach, whirling with her face wild. Her mouth was broken into a crooked grin of sick laughter and she cackled as she brought her gun level with Sora’s face. The cold barrel pressed into his cheek, beneath his eye as if to gouge it out. The hammer pulled back with a condemning snap and he let his eyes slide closed for the Reaper’s appearance. 

The moment he gave up, someone else slammed into Selphie, sending them all rolling across the floor. Xion’s sticky blood pasted to the side of Sora’s face. He saw a gleam of pale hair and pale skin, but Selphie’s tattered cloak was snarled around whoever had attacked her and he couldn’t make out if it was Roxas or Namine. 

Sora staggered back to his feet, grabbed Selphie by a mess of clothing, and heaved her away. Her head slammed into the corner of the fireplace with a crack and blood bloomed on the hardwood. Namine sat up beside Sora, looking startled and tousled. Selphie seemed to have gotten off a blow on the side of her face. Her eye was blood-occluded and swelling already. 

“Sora,” she breathed.

He swept Namine up in his arms and set her back on her feet. “Get out of here,” he said to her. “Take Xion and Roxas. Get Kairi. Go now! I’ll hold her off.”

At the fireplace, Selphie stirred. Sparks were leaping onto her body, filling the room with the scent of burned hair and flesh and dirty cloth. 

…

Namine knelt, dragged Xion’s arm over her shoulders, and heaved her to her feet like a rag doll. 

Xion’s dark head lolled against Namine’s shoulder and a spike of agony went through her body. Her mouth tasted like blood and her nose was thick with the smell of it. Her vision was thick with darkness. It may have been her own dark blue-black hair or else the blood loss was clouding her mind. She couldn’t be sure which.

“Namine…?” she forced out. The air was heavy with the smell of burning. Who was burning? Was she on fire? She hurt enough to be burning alive. The flesh could have been peeling form her bones like overcooked meat. “Was is… happening?”

The frail blonde didn’t answer her. She seemed to be focusing entirely on getting up and getting out. She shouldered open a door, cold rain lashed at them, and called for Roxas. Suddenly, there was a horrible sound like thunder and a howl of pure anguish. A few more thunderous sounds broke the silence of the night. 

Xion couldn’t be sure who was screaming. It might even have been her. 

“NO!” Namine shouted and turned in the threshold of the doorway. The door was pushing her over sideways and Xion’s body slipped across her shoulders. 

“Go! Get out of here!” Someone yelled, either Sora or Roxas, but the pain in the voice was too thick to distinguish. 

Something slammed into the door and the wood thumped hard into Namine’s frail white body. Xion and Namine tipped out the door backwards, landing in a heap in the thick dark mud outside the inn. Namine made a pained sound, a gasp, a cry. Another blast of bolting white-hot agony shot through Xion’s body from her wounded shoulder and she blacked out like a burned-out light.

…

Selphie had gotten to her feet faster than anyone could have anticipated and she was like a rattlesnake, fangs bared, ready to strike even before she was completely on her feet. Sora had had his back to her, dragging Kairi to her feet, watching Namine and Xion shrink through the doorway into the stormy night beyond. Then, suddenly, Selphie made a small sound—half a snicker and half a laugh—and squeezed off a few haphazard shots. 

Sora didn’t feel any impact from the bullets. All he felt was a disturbing sensation that he was going to lose someone precious and a breath of air across his back. He saw Kairi’s indigo eyes widen and her mouth open in a small O of shock and horror. Sora half-turned to see what was behind him, momentarily fearing that he would feel his face implode from Selphie’s bullets. Instead, Roxas fell into Selphie and they both fell towards the fire. 

There was a loud WUFF of ignition and Roxas let out a shriek of pain. 

“NO!” Namine screamed.

Sora staggered away from Kairi, caught Roxas by some of his tattered shirt, and heaved him from the hearth. 

Selphie came with him. Her fingers were all bloodied bones, gun glowing red-hot in her skeleton fingers. She was holding onto Roxas’s arm, digging her broken dirty fingernails deep into his flesh. Her face was a haunted visage. She was all burned brunette locks plastered to her cracked and blistered flesh and lips cracked into a horrible peeling grin. With a long loud cry that was more haunting than anything Sora had ever heard, even some sounds that had slipped from his own mouth. Selphie released Roxas, leaving a long smear of blood down the length of his body, and staggered towards the door. In the threshold, she stopped, swaying, and looked back to grin cruelly at them. “I’m going to catch your Namine. I’m going to skin Xion alive. I’m going to murder you all!” Then, she swept out into the night like a ghost. 

…

“Namine,” Roxas breathed. He pushed against Sora’s chest, flesh sloughing off his burned fingers. “No! No, no, no, no!” Howling, he shoved away from his brother and lurched after Selphie, Namine, and Xion. He practically fell out the door, but quickly got to his feet and took off running as if the Devil himself was at his heels.

…

“No, Roxas! Come back!” Sora shouted. He was halfway to the door, slipping and sliding on Xion’s spilled blood, when Mickey bolted down the staircase.

“What’s going on?! What was all that noise and screaming?!” Mickey demanded. His face was white, making his hair look impossibly black. His white hands fluttered nervously as he picked his way through the ruin of his inn. Nothing much had been disturbed, but the air was thick with smoke and the smell of burning and the floor was sticky with a wash of blood. “What happened?! There’s blood everywhere!”

“It’s Selphie!” Kairi shouted at him, tripping her way to Sora’s side. “We have to go! She’s after our friends!”

“Wait! The storm!” Mickey shouted, but they had already blown out the door like a wisp of smoke. He ran to the door, threw it open, and shouted into the night, “Sora! Kairi! Everyone, come back!” Lightning knifed through the sky like a bolt of white-hot flame. It struck a tree just outside the inn. For a moment, it burst into flame, but guttered quickly in the pouring rains. “Sora!” Mickey shouted. The tree cracked as loudly as gunfire and crashed over sideways. It looked like a skeleton, leafless and reaching for the remainder of its life, charred like the two bodies that had fallen into the fire, finally dead as the last of the glowing red embers went out in the cold rain.

Mickey hoped it wasn’t an omen of what was to come. He hoped the children would make their way back to him. He hoped he would see them all alive again. He hoped he would see Sora alive again. It would be a cruel god who allowed Sora to die now when he had finally found some semblance of happiness.

He went back inside the inn to wait and clean.

…

Even though Kairi had been right on Sora’s heels, when they stepped out into the dark storm she lost sight of him within seconds. “Sora!” she screamed into the winds, feeling her voice torn from her raw throat. For a moment, she stood, shivering and hugging herself while the rains beat down on her, waiting for him, but he did not reappear. “Sora!” She knew the smart thing would have been to go back into the inn and wait for her friends to return. But, somewhere in the dark woods, Xion and Namine were fleeing and Xion was shot. Roxas was half-crazed, trapped in some state of panic caused by some unknown guilt. Selphie, armed and burned, was pursuing them all, trying to kill them, making the pay for taking cruel Tristan from her. Sora was charging blindly after all of them. She couldn’t bear to go back inside and wait with Mickey. 

Waiting would be more painful than being out here in the icy-cold storm.

Kairi screamed for Sora again and then raced blindly into the woods after her precious friends. She didn’t hear the tree crashing down behind her or see the strike of flaming lightning or hear Mickey shouting for them to come back. Even if she had, she didn’t care enough to turn around. All that mattered was her friends in the woods.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns? 


	29. Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt

Everyone MUST go to this website! **www. montana meth. org** If anyone is too lazy to remove the spaces, there’s a link in my profile. But I have personally SEEN the sick shit Meth does to people. Watch the commercials, read the print ads, and look at the pictures! 

And by all means, spread the word!

X X X

Roxas was running blindly through the forest, half-blind between the rain and the mud in his eyes. He had fallen a few times, slipping in the thick muck of the forest floor—leaves, pine needles, wet earth, and assorted mushrooms. Again, he stumbled to his feet, worn sneakers skidding in the sludge, and slammed full force into a tree and went down in a heap in the mud. For a moment, he lay there stunned on the forest floor, staring up the dark sky and drowning in the rain pelting down on his upturned face. Finally, with the thought of dangerous Selphie pursuing his Namine and injured Xion, he managed to get back up and charge through the forest some more. 

His burned skin was blistering. His damaged flesh was caught between the soothing cold of the rain and the pain of dirt in his wounds. 

Desperately, Roxas shouted into the night, screaming for Namine and Xion. As he got farther into the forest, he felt his flesh prickle with fear. He was alone and helpless out here. He stopped screaming for Namine and Xion, he stopped trying to play the hero. 

Roxas never had been a hero, anyway.

Sora was the hero. 

Not Roxas. 

Roxas was no hero. 

He was a cowardly selfish class-A screw-up. He didn’t have a self-sacrificing bone in his body, not a scrap of courage, not a thread of sense, or a lick of power. He was afraid of pain. He was afraid of the dark. He was afraid to die, even though he had done nothing with his miserable life. 

Sometimes, he hated himself, but he didn’t have the strength to stay that way. 

“Sora! Please, someone, help me!” he screamed into the night, hating the edge of hysteria in his own voice.

Desperately, he turned around and around, staring at the hopeless darkness of the trees. Everything looked the same—all deep dark heavily-wooded trees towering into the dark inky-velvet night. There were no distant stars beyond the branches, not a single scrap of light filtered onto the muddy ground. There was nothing but drowning rain and tearing ice-cold wind. 

Roxas was completely alone.

“Sora!” He was so close to blubbering, to collapsing into a useless heap of tears and weakness. “Sora!”

Through the thick brambles, someone stumbled out. 

Roxas whirled, hopefully calling out his brother’s name again, breath catching in a squeak. “Sora?”

But, if Roxas didn’t have bad luck, he’d have no luck at all. 

It wasn’t Sora who stumbled into the muddy clearing.

…

Kairi was as alone as Roxas in the woods, but she was slightly calmer—only slightly and for different reasons. She was worried about Sora, who was sure to attack Selphie and do everything in his power to protect his friends. She was also concerned for Xion and Namine. Xion was hurt and Namine wouldn’t be able to do anything to protect either of them if she had to devote all of her attention to holding Xion up. She didn’t know where Roxas even was.

She cupped her hands around her mouth and screamed, “Sora! Namine!” She took a breath, filling her parched lungs with water and air, coughed into her hands, and continued shouting. “Xion! Roxas! Where are you!?” 

Kairi stumbled blindly through the woods some more, pushing aside wet leaves and slapping clawing branches. Brambles caught in her hair and her clothing, yanking at her, tearing her in all directions. She began to lose track of where she was going, of where she had been, of all directions at all. The rain was slanting down, making everything a muddy mess. She could see her own footprints in the thick sludge. She could have been going in circles and she never would have known it.

She was lost.

Completely and undeniably lost. 

“Sora! Roxas! Namine! Xion!” Staring around blindly, she gasped in a deep breath. “Mickey! Cloud!” At this point, she might have even accepted crazy murderous Selphie’s company just so she wasn’t alone in the woods. “Anybody!”

But her only answer was the howling scream of the wind as it swept through the forest. 

…

Selphie lurched through the mud towards Roxas, grinning maliciously, licking the sores and cuts on her mouth. Watery blood was staining the front of her shirt, mixing with the rain. Her fingers were all burned to the bone, skin blackened and sloughing off the bleached bloody bones. A few strips of muscle hung from those wounds like the charms on a bracelet. Her seared hair was plastered to her face and neck, dark and bloody. Her ragged clothing was coated in mud. She looked like a skeleton, already dead, like a zombie raised from the grave. 

“Hello, Roxas,” she said. Her voice was garbled by her burned lips and cut mouth. “I didn’t want you. I wanted Kairi. Know where she is?”

Roxas was too afraid to speak, even to sell out and save his own skin. Not that it mattered. He didn’t know where anyone was, but maybe that was for the best.

“Oh, fine then. I guess you’ll do,” she muttered and pulled out a long wicked knife from somewhere in her clothing. It was already bloodied and gory, like she had already butchered someone, but by the way she spoke, he suspected he would be her first victim. 

“No!” He shrieked, turned on his heel, and ran for his life. “No, no, no!”

Within feet, Selphie was on top of him, stabbing fiercely over and over. The knife sank into the mud with wet squelching sounds, only grazing his flesh. Shielding his face with his hands and peeping through is fingers, Roxas realized something. Half of her face was badly burned, one eye oozing white puss and blood with thick hair plastered in the wound. That was why he hadn’t noticed it before. Her depth perception was off and she was missing him. 

Dredging up some courage, he got his foot in her stomach and heaved her off of him. She sank in the mud to her elbows, glared at him with her one good grass-green eye, and lunged for him again. Roxas scrambled, slipped, and fell. This time, she forced him face down in the muck and trailed her knife down the length of his back, making sure he could feel it. 

She wouldn’t miss this time.

“Stop!”

…

Namine stumbled through the woods, leaning heavily on a dark looming tree and trying to catch her breath. Xion was getting heavier and heavier, hanging off her shoulder like something dead. Namine’s only comfort was that she was indeed still breathing, heavily and raggedly, more like gasping in wet air like a drowned victim, but breathing none the less. She drew in her own ragged supply of air, choking on the dense water in the air. 

This rain was horrible, drenching her to the bone. 

The mud was worse, sucking her down, making walking difficult when Xion was already slowing her progress. 

The crazed maniac chasing them through the woods, trying to kill them, was easily the worst part of the night regardless of the weather conditions.

“Just hang in there, Xion,” Namine whispered though her voice was lost to the howling storm. She hefted Xion’s arm across her shoulders again, feet slipping and sinking in the mud, and trudged on into the darkness. 

The whole night had a desperate feel to it, like someone was going to die, like someone wasn’t going to make it. Her heart was thundering in the cage of her ribs like a terrified animal frantic to get out and her blood was pounding in her ears. She sent up another silent prayer that everyone would make it through this night alive and continued to slog through the thick muck underfoot.

“Just hold on Xion,” she gasped out. “I’m going to get you some help. I’m going to get everyone some help. Just hang on…” She didn’t care that no one could hear her. She just had to talk, to encourage herself to keep going. “Just hang on… Just hold on… Just breathe. Breathe.”

…

“Stop it!” After the initial howl of panic and terror, his savior’s voice dropped to the usual melted-chocolate octave, all sweet and timid and gentle. “Hold on, Selphie. Now, you know the one you really want is me.” Sora’s voice was like a song, like the lamp burning in the steeple of the lighthouse on the cliff during a terrible storm, calling in the ships to safety like a siren so they didn’t smash to bits on the rocks. “How about just letting Roxas go, okay?”

Roxas would have liked to have seen his brother, but his face was pressed into the mud and he was busy inhaling it. “Sora,” he gasped out, but Selphie dug the knife into his shoulder like a chip of ice. 

Selphie made a sound deep in her chest, like a hum, like she was thinking. She seemed to be seriously considering Sora’s offer, but then again the way she dug that knife deeper and deeper into Roxas wasn’t much of a comfort. She rose to a crouch, feet squelching, giving the tip of the knife a little twist as she rose. “The face of my enemy, before me at last, and at my feet, my enemy’s friend. Should I let him go, Tristan?” she asked the stormy wet air and made that deep humming sound again. Her burned sore lips curved in a sick demented smile. 

Sora coiled to spring, to fight her away from his precious brother. 

But surprisingly, she stood up smoothly, letting the ratty cloak hide her misshaped beaten body and tucking the knife away inside. “Very well,” was all she said. Her voice was soft and diplomatic, under laid with something sinister and suspicious.

“Roxas, go.” 

Slipping and skidding in the mud, Roxas managed to scramble desperately to his feet. He turned back to face his brother and crazed Selphie, gasping and heaving in rain-slogged air. He was half-blind with all the mud in his eyes and wiped frantically at them, trying to see again. Finally, he was able to take in the sight of his brother and the profile of Selphie’s burned mangled face. Her lips were curved in a sick smile and she was shifting idly from foot to foot. 

Sora was, unlike him, mud-free and looking shockingly calm. His dark chocolate hair was plastered to his face in wisps and feathers. His cerulean blue eyes shone in the dark of the forest, radioactive with nervousness and something else Roxas couldn’t name. His narrow chest was heaving, but other than that he showed no sign of unease. The faceless, nameless, emotionless slave visage was in place. He was like a ghost, like a wisp of smoke. Shapelessness, nothingness…

“Roxas, I mean it. Go!” 

Now, there was a faint tinge of panic in Sora’s voice. At any moment, Selphie could change her mind and butcher Roxas yet his dumb brother was just standing there, staring at him with is mouth open and his blue eyes shining through the mask of mud.

“Get out of here!”

Selphie tore her gun from somewhere in the folds of her tattered cloak and fired off a lazy shot in Roxas’s direction. He jolted like a startled bird, leaping into action and diving from the clearing with only the squelch of mud to announce his fleeing. 

Then, it was only Sora and Selphie alone in the storm.

…

Roxas ran through the woods like a she-devil was at his heels. Desperate fear welled up beneath his ribs, choking him and making it hard to breath. Then, his cowardly escape crippled him. He had left Sora back there to fight Selphie alone, so alone… 

Why? 

Why was he such a fucking coward?

Even if he went back, he wasn’t sure he would have the guts to do anything. 

He would just sit in the bushes and watch, shivering like a small child, helpless, useless… just like when they had taken Sora.

Roxas didn’t realize he was blubbering and hyperventilating until he heard the sick animal sounds coming from his own throat and felt he tears burning in his eyes. He was like some kind of desperate animal, screaming and crying. He collapsed in a heap, sobbing into himself and wishing he had an ounce of his brother’s selfless courage. 

He was such a weakling. 

Roxas sniffed heavily, feeling the snot running down the back of his throat. Finally, his desperate sobbing abated and he was able to catch his breath. Then, he scrubbed his face with his hands, pulled himself together, and stood up from the soggy forest floor.

…

“Sweet little pet,” Selphie purred, eyeing him languidly with her green eyes half-closed. She smoothed her ratted muddy clothing against her body as if considering what lay beneath them. “You took my Tristan away from me. I loved him…”

Sora shook his head, a sad frown creasing his lips. “No, Selphie, please, listen to me,” he said. “You never loved him.”

She fired off a shot at him, but it was wide as if she hadn’t even intended to hit him. The bullet sank into a tree, chipping off splinters. “I did! I still do! I love him!” Her voice rose into a shriek, howling with the raging storm. 

“Selphie, he never loved you either.”

“He did! He—”

“He made you feel good? He burned you from the inside out? He lit you on fire and made you melt for him?”

“Yes.” Her voice was breathy and her eyes were glazed. “He filled me to the brim and then he tore me apart.”

“Yes, he did. Selphie, I’ve been there. I’ve been where you’re standing.”

“No!”

“Selphie, listen to me. It was all lies.”

“No!” A bullet whistled past Sora’s face and he felt a burning path slice across his cheek. Hot blood ran down his throat, shockingly different against the chill of the rain. “You are a liar! Tristan loved me! He’d still be loving me now if it wasn’t for you!”

Sora took a step towards her and she stepped back, almost afraid. The truth was burning into her. She knew he was right somewhere inside her twisted broken mind, but she didn’t want to accept it. Finally, Sora had her backed against a tree and managed to take her into his arms. Selphie was like a statue, like freezing cold stone. Sora could feel the fear and anguish vibrating through her body like physical sobs even as she struggled to push him away. 

“Get away from me! I’ll shoot you!” Selphie shrieked. 

Sora cradled her tighter against his slender body. “Stop, listen to me. I know what you’re going through. I went through it myself when I first left him.”

“You left him?”

“I was taken away,” Sora said with a touch of regret and sadness in his voice. “He nearly killed me, Selphie. He almost killed me. He practically tore my body apart. The court ruled me away from him even though I was his slave.”

She breathed raggedly. 

“He did the same things to me that he did to you. He raped me, he beat me, he starved me… He tortured me. But I always wanted him. When he was kind, he was so kind. He made me feel human, feel loved and wanted.”

“Yes,” Selphie breathed.

“But you know he only hurt you. He never loved you. He’s a sick person.”

“Why?” Selphie sobbed, clutching Sora’s body tightly. “I loved him.”

“He tricked you. He broke you.”

“No…” she moaned as if in physical pain.

“He only wanted you to be his perfect pet, his slavering dog, and then he would have killed you. Actually, I saved you.”

“Saved me?”

“Yes. He would have killed you. He would have killed all of us.”

“But—”

“He would have killed you first, Selphie. You were already his pet by the time we got to you.”

“Saved me… from my love…”

“No, not your love. He was a sick man, a villain, evil…”

“Evil,” she sounded as if she was tasting the word on her split burned lips. “Would he really have killed me?”

“Yes. Beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

Then, she collapsed against him like wet paper and he allowed them both to slip to their knees. She clutched him, sobbing desperately, choking and gasping and screaming like her heart was broken. Sora simply held her, rubbing her damaged back, feeling the burns and blood and mud. 

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “It’s okay.”

“No…” she whimpered.

“It is.”

“No… it’s not okay.” Then, she took a deep breath and pushed away from him, keeping her face lowered and obscured through he could still see the sores on her mouth. 

Sora held her at arm’s length gently, cradling her shoulders in his hands. “It’s okay, Selphie.”

“No, it’s not okay. It’ll never be okay.” She lifted her face, meeting his eyes with her own tear-filled crazed green gaze. Then, her sick mouth curved into a disgusting smile, she pressed something icy-cold into Sora’s stomach, and fired off bullets into his gut until the chamber clicked empty.

X X X

Everyone MUST go to this website! www. montana meth. org If anyone is too lazy to remove the spaces, there’s a link in my profile. But I have personally SEEN the sick shit Meth does to people. Watch the commercials, read the print ads, and look at the pictures! 

And by all means, spread the word!

I think I might do a quick Anti-Meth one-shot for Meth Awareness for either Kingdom Hearts or Danny Phantom (which I watched the other day because I have no life and actually enjoyed it). So, wait for that if you want. If not, at least check out the Meth website. It’ll change your life!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	30. Roxas

I posted my Meth Awareness one-shot. It’s for Danny Phantom and titled “Not Even Once.” I’d love it if some of my usual readers would check it out and review!

Anyway… on with the story!

X X X

Roxas heard the gunshots and his heart froze in his throat. He had been kneeling in the bushes, hands clenched into fists and watching as Sora talked Selphie down. When she crumpled into him and allowed him to hold her against his chest, Roxas thought it was over. They sat like that, whispering, for what felt like forever. Then, Selphie emptied her gun into Sora’s body.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Click, click, click.

For a moment, everything hung in suspended animation.

Selphie pushed Sora back and he hung onto her shoulders. His face was pale and his mouth was open in a shocked gasping expression. Selphie smiled and blood rolled from the corner of her mouth. Then, Sora’s fingers loosened on her cloak and he slipped backwards in what felt like slow motion. He hit the ground, trembled as if he was going to get up, but couldn’t seem to find the strength. His cerulean eyes slid closed.

Selphie stood up and put her back to Roxas. 

She was walking away. 

Roxas exploded from the bushes with a howl of anguish and rage. She half-turned to see what that animal sound was, but he was already on her. He slammed into her headlong, feeling her brittle bony body crumple with the impact. They both went down in the mud, screaming and clawing and thrashing. 

Finally, Selphie got a handful of his hair and yanked. “You let me go, Roxas,” she snarled.

“No! You killed Sora!” he screamed, gripping her relentlessly even as she pulled his hair out by the roots. 

“Let go of me!” She shoved her gun under his chin, forcing his head back, and pulled the trigger but the gun only clicked empty. “Get off! Let go!”

“No!” he shrieked, hated how sheepish and terrified his voice sounded. 

She punched him in the nose and his eyes watered, not that he could tell with all the rain slanting down on them. They scrabbled wildly some more, rolling around and howling like cats. Then, Roxas got the advantage. He had Selphie face down in the mud, suffocating her in the water and earth like a premature burial.

“You killed him! You killed my brother, you bitch!” 

Selphie was making horrible choking sounds and struggling weakly. 

“You should die! He never did anything to anyone! He was a good person!” Roxas screamed at her, lifting her face from the muck and listening as she gasped in a horrible choking breath. He pushed her face back into the mud. “He never deserved any of this!”

Her limbs flailed in spasms.

“I saw him talking to you! I was watching! He was trying to help you and you killed him!” Roxas shouted. He allowed Selphie another breath of air.

“I’m sorry,” she choked out, but Roxas was beyond listening.

“No, it’s too late for that! He’s already dead!” He slammed her face into the ground over and over again, screaming and crying. She had killed Sora, his beautiful wonderful lost-for-so-long Sora, and it was all because Roxas had been too slow to help, because he had been such a coward. He blamed and hated her as much as he blamed and hated himself. “You killed him!”

“Roxas…” 

…

Mickey put another log on the fire. It was so hard to be like this to be waiting for their return when he didn’t know if they would make it through at all. He sat down at the bar and sipped at a mug of coffee, trying to keep himself awake.

Suddenly, he heard gunshots shattering through the night. The mug slipped from his hands and coffee sloshed over the sides, but it didn’t break.

For a moment, he stared at the mess, wondering what he should do now. Someone could be seriously hurt. They could need doctors, police, or lawyers. But, they were Rebellion. He couldn’t let the police get them. 

After a painstaking moment of pacing and warring with himself, he finally picked up the phone and called Leon, explaining what had happened. Leon promised to get there as soon as he could and said that Mickey should call the police regardless of the fact that Roxas, Sora, Namine, Kairi, and Xion were part of the Rebellion. Their lives were more important. 

Having that little to do kept Mickey going through the night, but he was still up alone… waiting for any sign of life to emerge from the forest.

…

“Sora?” He turned eagerly, desperate to see what he didn’t believe. “Sora?!”

“I’m… I’m not dead yet…”

Roxas wanted to leap to his brother’s side, but he wasn’t about to let Selphie go. “Sora,” he sobbed. “You’re alive.”

“Yeah, now let Selphie breathe. You’re going to kill her…”

Startled, Roxas pulled her face from the mud, listening as she gasped in deep breaths of wet air. “Does it matter?” he found himself snarling.

“Yes,” Sora whispered and struggled to sit up. “She’s tainted by Tristan. She needs help.” He paused, gasping for breath, and pressing his hands to his abdomen where blood was flowing out in a crimson current. “Tie her up with your belt. We need to get back to the inn. I need—” he gasped in anguish “—medical attention.”

“Right!”

Roxas bolted to his feet, putting a foot on Selphie’s back to hold her down, and tore off his belt. Then, he bound her hands behind her back, securing her wrists tightly. “Sora, do you need help? Can I help you?” he asked.

“I’m okay,” Sora whispered and crawled to his feet. He staggered into a tree, leaning on it heavily for support. “Let’s go. We need to… go…” He stumbled away from Roxas, going from tree to tree to catch his breath. 

Roxas caught up to him easily, dragging Selphie. “You’re not okay…” he whispered. “You’re not going to make it.”

Sora smiled at his brother, revealing his ghost-white face. “It was very brave of you to save me, Roxas,” he murmured. 

“I’m not half the hero you are.”

“I’m not a hero.”

“But you saved us from Tristan and—”

“I didn’t save anyone. I just had nothing to lose.”

“Nothing to lose?”

“No matter what, it would never have gotten worse for me. If I hadn’t killed Tristan and gone to prison to die, I would have gone with Tristan and died anyway, but he would’ve killed you. So, I chose to save you since I would’ve died either way.”

“But…” 

“But what?”

“You’re my brother.”

“Does that make me a hero?”

“It does to me. You’ve always been my hero, Sora, even when I had lost sight of you. Even when you were gone,” Roxas whispered. 

“I’m glad…” Sora whispered and staggered into another tree hard. He slipped in the mud and went down with a horrible thump. Once on the ground, he curled in on himself, whimpering and writhing in agony. “I can’t…” he sobbed. “I just can’t…

“No!” Roxas shouted. He pushed Selphie down in the mud, relieved that she stayed there, and rushed to Sora’s side. He cradled his brother, pushing wet chocolate tresses out of his face and trying to look into his half-lidded cerulean blue eyes. “No, Sora, hold on! You’re going to make it.”

“I can’t, Roxas. I just can’t…”

“No, come on!” Roxas dragged Sora to his feet, feeling the pain wracking his body. “You’re going to be okay!” He hoisted Sora’s arm over his shoulder, supporting him. He set off through the woods, half-dragging and half-carrying Sora. 

After a few steps, he turned around, grabbed Selphie by her upper arm, hauled her to her feet, and made her follow them. “Let’s go, you!”

She got to her feet and staggered after him. She was crying, making terrible whimpering and sniveling animal sounds. It looked like the agony of her burns, her mangled eye, and whatever her journey had entailed had finally caught up with her. 

The storm had taken it all out of everyone.

Roxas could only pray that Sora had it in him to make it back to the inn. 

…

The Dragon Inn was like a lighthouse on the shore during a storm, positioned high on the cliff like the boarding house had been. The interior smelled of fresh coffee and sausages. A fire was stacked high in the grate, flooding the place with warmth and safety, if only Sora and the others could reach it. Every light was burning inside, sending out beams of warm amber light that lit up the perimeter of the forest. Combined with the red and blue police lights flashing in the driveway, the inn was visible for miles around.

It was just starting to get light and Mickey had been up all night when the door slammed open and three people spilled into the Dragon Inn. Mickey, the police, and the paramedics bolted to their feet and instantly swarmed them. It was Roxas, Sora, and Selphie. Selphie might have been alive under all the mud and tears, but the life was definitely fading from Sora.

“Save him! Save him!” Roxas shouted, shoving Sora into the paramedics’ arms. He looked stronger, more grown up. There was age in his eyes, courage and power. He looked like Sora now. “Save him! He’s been shot! Four times!” He even had it mostly together. “Where’re Namine and Xion? Where’s Kairi?”

“They haven’t made it back yet,” Mickey told him.

“We need to find them. They’re still out there!” Roxas headed for the door, but two police officers intercepted him while the paramedics loaded Sora onto a stretcher. Blood had stopped flowing from his body and he was as white as death itself. 

“Son, we need to talk to you,” one of the officers said.

“Get out of my way. My friends are still out there,” Roxas snapped. 

“We’ll send someone out to look for them,” the second replied. 

“You don’t understand. Xion is hurt! We need to find her.”

“Another one is hurt?” the first asked Mickey.

The innkeeper nodded. “Yes, the dark-haired girl. I told you that. Selphie shot her in the shoulder.”

The officers exchanged glances and then looked at Roxas. “I’m sorry, son, but we’ll still need to keep you. We’ll send people out to look for your friends, but right now I need you to come with us back to the station.” 

Roxas glanced at the door, opened his mouth, shut it, and nodded. “Alright,” he murmured. “I’ll go with you.” Then, he turned to Mickey. “You’ll be here, right?”

“Until they come back. You have my word,” Mickey said.

Roxas nodded and then followed the police out into the grey pre-dawn light. The paramedics had already gone screaming off into the night with Sora. Roxas, Selphie, and the police left in a more quiet parade, lights flashing on the roof. 

The storm was starting to ebb. The pouring rain had turned into a drizzle. 

Mickey went to the door and watched them go. Roxas had changed, Mickey realized. He was braver now, more courageous, and more prepared to take charge. He was more like Sora, more like Leon. He was more like a leader in every way. Whatever had happened out there in the storm and the forest, Roxas had grown. Mickey smiled and then frowned. He just prayed that Sora would live to see the change in his brother.

X X X

I posted my Meth Awareness one-shot. It’s for Danny Phantom and titled “Not Even Once.” I’d love it if some of my usual readers would check it out and review!

New number by the way, I’m hoping to wrap this story up by Chapter 35. I know, I’m a liar.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	31. Aftershock: Pt II

Here we go! 

Closing arch should be beginning in the next chapter. Expect a time skip.

X X X

Namine was alone on the street, trying to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. Xion had come around, but she wasn’t very lucid and she wasn’t much help. Her feet scrabbled on the pavement, but she couldn’t walk by herself. Namine staggered into the middle of the road, staring at the double yellow lines, trying to keep her feet on them. Her eyes were getting heavy and her breath was ragged. It would be so nice to just sit down and rest, but… Xion needed help and Selphie might still be out there and the others were still out there.

If she just kept moving, kept going, she was sure she’d find the others. 

She couldn’t give up yet, not yet.

Yellow lines, yellow lines…

One foot in front of the other…

She watched her feet, watched them walking on those yellow lines. 

Xion groaned and shuddered in agony. “Namine,” she gasped out. “My arm… I feel like it’s burning…”

Xion sounded like she was talking in her sleep, coming from very far away. Namine didn’t have any energy to spare to answer her wounded friend. She had to keep going with every fiber of her being. If she strayed, she wouldn’t make it. Besides, Roxas had been the one that burned, fell in the fire with Selphie. 

Namine stumbled, but managed to stay standing. Something cool and wet ran down her side—Xion’s blood. She gasped in air, but it came out sounding like a cry. 

“What’s wrong?” Xion whispered. “Namine?”

Then, suddenly, she sagged across Namine’s shoulders like dead weight. Crying out, Namine struggled to heave them both back onto their feet, but was unable to. Xion crumpled on the pavement like wet paper. Xion was unconscious again and her shoulder was bleeding sluggishly. The blood coming out was cold. Was she dying? Namine allowed herself to fall to her knees at Xion’s side, relishing the weight off her sore feet.

“Xion!” Namine whispered and lightly slapped her friend’s face. “Don’t die…” 

When Xion didn’t revive, Namine hauled back and slapped her as hard as she could. Xion’s head turned, but she didn’t stir. 

“Xion, no!” Namine grabbed her again, dragging her to her feet, supporting her. Blood splattered on the pavement in the shape of a heart. “I’ll get you some help. Don’t die. Just hold on,” she whispered. “I know if we keep moving… We’ll find the others…”

…

Roxas was sitting in the front seat of the police cruiser since they had no real reason to put him in the back and this policeman didn’t have a partner. He was so tired, but he didn’t want to sleep. He was worried about Namine, Xion, and Kairi. He didn’t know where they were, if they were even still alive. Well, actually, he was fairly sure Namine and Kairi were still alive. After all, Selphie had been fighting with him and Sora in the woods and hadn’t had time to track down the girls, but Xion had been shot. Even a bullet in the shoulder could be deadly if she didn’t stop bleeding and if she didn’t get treatment soon. 

“Son, are you alright? Are you hurt?”

Roxas didn’t realize he had been rubbing the places on his clothes where Sora’s blood had dried. Sora… his beautiful brother… could he really die now? After all he had been through? But there was so much blood. How could someone survive losing that much blood?

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Roxas whispered and turned his gaze out the window.

The officer wanted to offer this kid some comfort, some assurance that his brother would live or that his friends would be alright, but… he couldn’t really do that. So, he focused on driving. Then, he saw them on the road, looking like hitchhiking ghosts. “What the hell?”

Roxas sat bolt upright in his seat, fingers clutching at the dashboard. “Stop! Pull over! That’s Namine and Xion!”

…

A police cruiser jerked to a halt beside Namine as she walked, but she hardly noticed. She just kept walking. Someone was shouting her name. Was it Xion? No, Xion was unconscious. Was Xion still breathing? She couldn’t tell. She had to keep going, to keep moving, to find the others. 

“Namine!” Then, she saw blue eyes through the survival haze that had clouded her mind. 

“Roxas?” she whispered, lips curving in a faint tattered smile. “You’re alive…” 

“Yeah. Yes, baby, I’m alive,” he murmured. His voice was soft and sweet and coming and going as if the wind was blowing it.

“I’m so glad,” Namine whispered. Then, she crumpled beneath Xion’s weight like a paper doll.

...

Kairi saw the glow of the Dragon Inn through the trees and started running towards it. She felt like she was in a nightmare, a long cold wet stinking nightmare. She stumbled up the steps and blew inside like a gust of wind. “Mickey!”

Mickey’s head snapped up and for a moment, he looked as if he had seen a ghost. Then, a warm relieved smile broke out on his face. “Kairi, oh, thank god. Roxas just called and said he found Namine and Xion. I’m so glad you’re alright.” He crossed the space between them and engulfed her in a deep hug. “Come on. I’ll drive you to the hospital.”

“Hospital?”

“That’s where the others are.”

She sensed something in his voice. “Why? Why are they in the hospital?”

“Kairi,” Mickey said softly. “You know Xion was shot, but…”

“But what? Tell me!”

“Sora’s been shot too. Four times. They don’t know if he’s going to make it.”

“N-no,” Kairi whispered. 

“Kairi,” Mickey murmured. “Come on. I’ll take you down to be with them.”

She nodded, but after that, she didn’t remember anything.

…

When Kairi came back to her senses, she was in a hospital room. She felt like no time had passed, like she was still recovering from Tristan in the hospital outside the boarding school with all her friends. She had an IV going into the back of her hand and the usual monitors attached to her, but she wasn’t hurt. She didn’t remember how she had gotten here, but she remembered Mickey saying he would drive her so he must have. 

She could see Namine’s pale white face and pale gold hair in the bed beside her, resting on a pillow with the white blankets pulled up to her chin. The girl’s blue eyes were closed and she had blood on the side of her face. Was she dead or merely asleep?

In the next bed over, Xion was laying. Her pretty caramel-colored face was ash-pale and her dark hair was thick with mud and blood. Her naked shoulders poked out above the covers and one was heavily bandaged. The tubes going into Xion were red, a blood transfusion. Right, Xion had been shot.

“Namine? Xion?” Kairi croaked, but there was no answer. She struggled to pull back the blankets, to get up and check on her friends.

The door opened and she froze, dreading a nurse. Instead, Roxas stepped into the room and closed the door quietly behind him. He looked tired and haggard, but also so much different than she remembered him looking. He looked older, braver, more like Sora.

“Roxas,” Kairi croaked.

His head snapped in her direction and he went quickly to her side. “Kairi, you’re okay,” he murmured. He smoothed the blankets across her belly. 

“Yeah, where’s Sora?”

“In the ICU. They don’t know if he’ll pull through.”

“He has to!” Kairi shrieked.

“Kairi, please. Calm down. It’s been a rough night.”

“No! No! He has to survive! Let me up!” She thrashed against the blankets, trying to get up and out of bed. “I want to see him!”

“Kairi, stop.” Roxas pushed her down into the mattress, hard, effectively pinning her. “Stop! Or I’ll be forced to call for a nurse and I don’t want to do that.”

“No! Let me go! Let me go! I want to see Sora!”

Roxas pressed the call button and within seconds, there was a needle beneath Kairi’s skin. Tranquilizer, she thought as her world grew fuzzy. Roxas really had grown more like Sora, more like Leon. He was more like a leader, more prepared to do everything for their better interest, even if she would hate him when she woke up. 

“Roxas?” Kairi whispered. “Why?”

“Because I care about you, Kairi,” Roxas said and carefully brushed some cranberry tresses off her sticky forehead. 

Then, she slipped into perfect black unconsciousness.

...

The blackness was never-ending, going on forever like a deep dark tunnel. The abyss was cool and bleak, but there seemed to be a distant cream-colored light coming from somewhere else. The light was so faint that it almost didn’t exist. It was like the night sky, deep and dark and cool, but full of sparkling diamond spotted stars giving off bleak ancient light. Half the stars that burned in that velvety sky were already dead. They just hadn’t gotten the message yet.

Sora was standing in the abyss of sky-like darkness, alone. 

His chest hurt. His guts ached. His body was burning yet he felt cold. It felt as if there were little chips of ice deep inside him. One by one, burning heat consumed those spots of ice and there was nothing but white-hot agony. 

Sora pressed his hands to his aching middle, feeling the taut smooth pale flesh. He didn’t feel any pain to the touch, but the hurt was definitely there. It was phantom pain, ghost pain, pain that was happening far away to someone else.

First, he thought of his Roxas who had burned with Selphie in the hearth. Then, he thought of Xion and her shot shoulder and of Namine when she fell through the door in her haste to escape with Xion. Third, he thought of Kairi. He wasn’t sure what had happened to her. He had lost her so quickly in the forest, in the storm. Last, he thought of Selphie. Tristan had already hurt her, but by the time she got to them at the Dragon Inn she looked as if she had been through more hell. Then, she had burned in the fire with Roxas. 

Everyone was hurt.

But, he couldn’t remember exactly what had happened to him.

Had he been hurt, too? 

Had he died? Been killed?

Where was he, anyway?

“Roxas? Kairi?” Sora called out into the abyss. “Namine? Xion?”

No one answered him. 

He was completely alone.

Suddenly, voices started floating in to him, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. It was as if they were speaking another language, a language he did not speak. He tried to ask them what they were saying, but no words came out. There was only a small croaking noise coming out of his throat, as if something was blocking the air in his chest. Again, the phantom pain spurred through him as if someone was stitching up something deep inside him, pulling and pinching. 

He pressed both hands to his stomach, doubling over in anguish.

Suddenly, the voices began speaking English. They were so loud, crashing through him as if amplified by a bullhorn.

_“Do you think the kid will pull through?”_

_“Who knows? We’ve done all we can for him.”_

_“But, he’s just a kid…”_

_“It’s out of our hands now. If he pulls through, it’ll be because of him.”_

_“Right… I hope he makes it.”_

_“We’ve fixed up his body as best we can.”_

_“But, he lost so much blood…”_

_“So did the girl.”_

_“But, those slugs…”_

_“If he has enough will, he’ll pull through.”_

_“You’re right. We’ve done all we can.”_

The voices stopped and complete darkness descended around Sora. Everything came crashing back down around him in a colorful loud blur. He remembered holding Selphie, trying to talk her down and save her, but she emptied her gun into his stomach. Then, Roxas had come charging in and tried to smother her in the mud, enraged. They walked back to the Dragon Inn with Selphie in tow. He had been talking to Roxas about heroes and life and having nothing to lose anymore. Then he remembered collapsing, exhausted and hurt in the mud. After that, he didn’t remember anything. It was just a blank white screen that was as pocked and shattered as an old film reel. 

He must be in the hospital on the operating table, dying… or barely surviving. Those voices must have been the doctors talking. Was he really so close to death?

The pain went through his middle again and he collapsed to his knees, clutching himself and trying not to whimper in agony. 

The darkness wrapped around him like a thick blanket. 

A number of disjointed images swirled in a maelstrom through his mind. 

A ballerina was dancing and dancing, spinning around and around in beautiful graceful pirouettes. Then, she stopped and her face was streaked with blood and tears and dark make-up, eyes gouged out and mouth curved down in a sick grimace.

Then, he saw himself in a dark cold cell, lying on the floor in a sniveling cowering heap. He was still a starving beaten brutalized slave. There was blood on the back of his thighs from violation. Tristan’s taste was still in his mouth and the pain was still inside him.

A young woman in a pale green silk gown, standing there in the middle of a room full of dead animals with an antler chandelier around her shoulders. The bulbs were flickering, flickering, illuminating her dead stuffed-looking face in short bursts. 

Then, he was tied to the wrought-iron bedposts, on his knees, face shattered and hopeless. There was the snap of a whip and his entire body writhed in anguish as stripe after stripe of torn bloodied flesh appeared across his back. He was being beaten within an inch of his life.

A woman with a face like a Noh mask, perfectly blank and smiling without a shred of expression or emotion. Her waist, shoulders, and arms were draped in heavy red silk and dark chocolate hair spilled out around the beaded red headdress. She was looking at nothing, but suddenly she turned to face him, tore her mouth open with both hands, and let out an earth-shattering scream.

Then, he was lying on Kairi’s floor, looking up at her with both desperate hope and lifeless consuming fear. He had just stood up for Yuna and been beaten by Seifer’s group. He had told her about his rape, his violation, and she was holding the remote in her small white hands, preparing to punish him. Then, he watched his own body writhing in agony on her floor as the electricity coursed through him.

Someone was at his side, taking his hand with ice-cold fingers. He looked down. There was a stooped small old man beside him, swathed in a heavy red cloak that hid him completely save his gnarled spindly fingers. From that hand, withering age seeped through Sora’s entire body, draining him. 

“Am I dead?” Sora whispered.

“I don’t know.” The old man asked. His voice was low and gravelly. “Are you?”

Sora didn’t know the answer to that so instead he whispered, “Do I have to go?”

“Are you ready to?”

He shook his head. “I was just starting to live.”

“Then don’t die,” the old man said. 

With a horrible clap of raging thunder, Sora slammed back into his body. Pain flooded through him and he felt as if he was being torn apart. He let out a scream of agony, arching against the mattress and gripping the aluminum runners hard enough to dent them in. In the back of his mind, he could hear the heart monitor going crazy as his heartbeat thundered erratically from the pain. He couldn’t stop screaming. 

He hurt so badly!

Suddenly, there was a flurry of activity in the room—nurses and doctors and other assorted people in hideous green scrubs. In the thick of them, he saw the old man cloaked in red, standing like a rock in the middle of a river with the water rushing around him. He had a gnarled staff in his gnarled hands, leaning on it as if it was all that was keeping him standing, and Sora could just make out the twisted wrinkled curve of his mouth beneath the low red hood of the cloak. Sora writhed as another swell of agony tore through his body. The old man said something, but Sora didn’t catch it through his tunneling vision. A warm white light wrapped around him, washing everything away until there was nothing left but Sora and the old man standing in a deserted sterile white hospital room. 

“Are you going to live?” the old man asked. “Even with this pain?”

“Yes,” Sora whispered, allowing his grip on the sheets to slacken. 

The old man tipped his head in a nod and then was gone as if he never existed. 

Then, all the pain in Sora’s body washed away and deep darkness surrounded him like heavy blanket. He fell into a deep dreamless sleep and didn’t wake up for a very long time. By the time he did, a lot of things had changed.

X X X

I posted my Meth Awareness one-shot. It's for Danny Phantom and titled "Not Even Once." I'd love it if some of my usual readers would check it out and review!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	32. Leading Them Free: Leon

This chapter is really short. I know, I’m so bad. Kind of a filler chapter, not really, but I needed these scenes to wrap up this arc and then I was going to go right into the time skip, but it was weird skipping in the middle of a chapter, so…

X X X

The night was dragging on, never-ending… By now, it was after midnight. Even the nightshift—used to working long stressful hours of continuous patients—was getting tired. It had been a rough twenty-four hours with the rush of injured nameless teenagers early that morning and then the assorted injuries from the storm. The night was cool and deep. The stars were hidden behind a heavy blanket of thick clouds. Maybe it would rain, maybe not. The storm seemed to have blown over, but was the worst over?

…

Leon arrived late, much later than he intended. Finally, the hospital came into view, looming like a haunted asylum on the horizon. It was all brilliant fluorescent lights beaming from the windows like a lighthouse on the cliffs. The digital clock set in the dashboard read 2:17 but it was slow. Leon wasn’t sure how slow… One minute, ten minutes, an hour? 

By now, even Yuffie was starting to lose her spunk. She had been up with him all night, driving and worrying, but her chocolate eyes were still bright and cheery. “There’s a spot. Pull in,” she said and leaned forward to point it out in case he suddenly went stupid.

Leon pulled in, turned off the engine, pocketed the keys, and gathered the assorted necessary paraphernalia for figuratively getting away with murder. “Let’s go, Yuffie,” he said, but she was already out of the car and halfway across the parking lot. 

“Leon, hurry up!” she shouted. 

He hurried after her. 

…

In the hospital, Roxas was sitting up, half-asleep, being interrogated by the police as to how exactly he knew Selphie. He knew Leon was coming and that he probably had a suitable story that wouldn’t reveal them as Rebels and still be likely so he was doing his best not to say anything. He was studiously avoiding the questions, sending the police in a circle and forcing them to re-ask the same questions. They were getting annoyed and he was getting too tired to keep this up. 

Then, Leon pushed through the doors, looking tired and stressed, but his mouth curved into a reassuring smile. “Good—” he hesitated “—morning? Officers, I’m his brother.”

“I thought his brother was the one who was shot?” one of the officers whispered, mind fogged from Roxas slithering out of all their questions. 

“His other brother,” Leon interjected. “His older brother.”

After that, Roxas wasn’t entirely sure what happened. All he knew was that he fell asleep and by the time he woke up, everything was cleared up and his name was Roxas Donovan, middle child between Sora and Lexus “Leon” Donovan—parents deceased. Turned out, Leon had fake birth certificates, social security numbers, and other assorted papers including health insurance for each of them. The story was that Selphie was clinically insane and her attack had been as random as it was vicious. The police had no reason to suspect otherwise. Selphie Tilmitt was insane and escaped from a mental institution after all. So, they were safe and off the hook. 

All they had to do now was get better.

X X X

Wow, epically short chapter. 

I promise, the next one will be up quick, but I wanted the time skip to be the first thing that happens—like in the beginning of the chapter. I started writing it in here and it just felt weird having a time skip in the middle of a chapter. 

Plus, I want to tie this up at 35 chapters and this will get me moving. So… Next chapters: expect fluff! and the time skip!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	33. The Beach House

I’m watching Avatar as I type and I just have to share this funny moment. It’s when the kids meet Jet: 

_“Hey! These barrels are full of blasting jelly.”_

_“That’s a good score,” Jet says._

_“And these barrels are full of jelly candies.”_

_“Also good.” Pause. “Let’s not get those mixed up.”_

I thought it was funny. I laughed ridiculously.

X X X

**~Three Weeks Later~**

It turned out the “Donovans” had a beach house right on the water in prime real-estate location with the nearest neighbor over half a mile away. It was a big and white, mostly glass and white balconies, more beautiful than anything they had ever seen. It was much lovelier than Leon’s dusty neglected Victorian mansion where he headed up the rebels. This was a secret place, out of sight and out of mind, a place for hiding out and recuperating, which was exactly what it was being used for now. 

Xion was standing at the edge of the sea where the surf was churning white against the sand and bringing shells up around her bare feet. She was wearing a pretty spaghetti-strap black and white sundress with her dark blue-black hair scraped back from her face with a mess of bobby pins. The only sign of her near-death was her new (if possible) even more positive outlook on life and the white fruitlike scar in her shoulder where the bullet had been buried. She was talking on the phone to Leon or Cid or Yuffie. It was easy to see she was getting restless, recuperating and relaxing wasn’t quite enough for her. She was missing the excitement of being in the thick of the rebellion. 

Namine was lying in a reclining lounge chair with her long white legs stretched out in the sand, toes buried. She was wearing a plain white bikini with her pale hair lose around her pink burning shoulders. She hadn’t had much time to relax since Sora and Xion had been hurt. She, Kairi, and Roxas had been busy tending their injured friends over the past three weeks. 

Roxas was sitting cross-legged beside her, alternately building a sandcastle and smearing suntan lotion on her exposed flesh. He was strong and wise now, almost a true leader. Sometimes, Leon even called him for suggestions and assistance, not that he needed it but he wanted Roxas to feel like he was doing something important.

Sora had been the most injured, bedridden, and Kairi spent all her waking hours at his side. Sometimes, she even fell asleep at his side and Roxas had to carry her to bed. But today, Sora was healed enough that he could get out of bed and venture outside on the beach. They were coming out of the house just now and Roxas turned to watch them.

“They’re alright,” Namine said without turning. 

Kairi had her arm around Sora’s waist, supporting him just in case. Her cranberry tresses fluttered against her face and neck, sticking to her wet lips and making her look like some kind of just-born goddess. Sora still looked a little sickly, skin stretched over his bones and ghost-pale, but his eyes were sparkling with beautiful life. They had grown increasingly close over the past three weeks and Sora was all laughter and smiles and soft touches when Kairi was concerned. 

“Hey guys,” Kairi called as they approached. 

“Kairi, how’s it going?” Namine asked.

“Good,” she said and turned her face to Sora. “Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?”

“I’m fine,” he said softly, smiling at her. 

Xion turned around suddenly, as if sensing that something interesting was going on without her noticing. “Hey!” she shouted, beaming. “Sora! Kairi! Alive and back from the dead at last! How does the vampire feel to be out of his cave?!” 

“Xion, stop shouting!” Roxas hollered.

“You’re a hypocrite!” Namine muttered.

Then, Xion raced over to them, slogging and slipping in the sand. The phone was dangling from her hand, forgotten and ignored. Roxas hoped no one was on the other line. Breathless, she hugged Sora gently and then crushed Kairi’s ribcage in a smothering embrace. 

“Xion, you’re so loud,” Sora mumbled, but readily hugged her in return. 

“You feeling better?” she asked him. 

“Yeah, much,” he told her. 

Xion slipped her hands beneath the hem of his t-shirt, lifting it gingerly and exposing the healed wounds. There were four dark concavities in his gut with thick zipper-like scars from the surgeries that had saved his life. They hadn’t even been able to get all the slugs out of him. There was one still inside, embedded in one of his ribs where it had ricocheted and stuck. She traced the path of one scar with her fingertip and let out a breath of air. “Yours is so different from mine,” she said softly and cupped her hand over the fruitlike wound in her shoulder. 

Sora smiled. 

Kairi allowed Xion to hold Sora’s hands and support him. She stepped over to Roxas and spoke to him in hushed tones. “He’s doing almost one hundred percent better. It’ll just take a little while for his strength to return completely,” she murmured. 

“That’s good,” Roxas said. “Xion’s fine as we can all see. It’ll take more than a bullet to keep her down.”

Namine laughed softly and stood up from the chair she was lounging in. She threw her arms around Roxas’s bare white chest, hugging him tightly. “Come on! Let’s go swimming,” she said cheerfully. She tugged him towards the water. 

Kairi took Sora’s hands from Xion, gently supporting him, while Xion charged down towards the ocean with Namine and Roxas. Namine was already waist deep in the water, looking frozen and unsure of whether to go in all the way or run screaming back to shore. Roxas was knee-deep, thinking seriously about running back towards the warmth of dry land. Xion dove in without a second thought, splashing Namine with a tidal wave of misplaced water. Seconds later, she bolted to the surface, screaming, “Cold!”

Kairi had a small giggle at her friend’s expense. “Do you want to go swimming, too?” she asked Sora.

“Let’s just go down by the water,” he murmured. “I don’t think I have the strength.”

“Okay,” she said softly and led him down to the edge of the surf. 

Sora collapsed, letting the water lap around his bare feet. Kairi sat down beside him, enjoying the water and the sun. She felt like she was on vacation with family—her big crazy extended family. They spent the day at the beach, going back into the beach house only to prepare a picnic lunch of sandwiches, cold salads, potato chips, and fruits. Then, they returned to the water to swim and tan. By the end of the day, they were tired, but content and relaxed.

…

The sun was sinking down below the horizon, painting the sky and array of candied colors. Night was rolling in, bringing with it a small cloak of fog. The inky velvet sky was speckled with diamond stars and the beach house glowed with beautiful amber light. In the distance, the beam of a lighthouse danced through the darkness. 

Sora was sitting on the porch in one of the comfortable wicker chairs, watching the night descend and enjoying his life. He had never thought in a million years that he would go from a tormented slave to a rebel to a treasured friend. He sighed, tracing his fingers over his scarred abdomen, still feeling the phantom sting of the bullet inside him.

“Hey, what are you doing out here all by yourself?” Kairi asked. She stepped out onto the porch and closed the sliding glass door behind herself. 

“Just thinking,” he murmured. 

“About what?” she asked and sat down beside him. 

“How much my life has changed… Not in a million years did I expect to be here,” he whispered. 

Kairi put her arm around his shoulders and hugged him gingerly. 

“Kairi?”

“Yeah?”

“Before all this, when we were still with Leon and the other, you… kissed me… But since then, you haven’t. Do you not like me anymore?”

“Sora, we’ve been busy. You were hurt.”

He turned to face her and his eyes glowed in the darkness. “Kairi, I want to be with you,” he whispered. “You don’t understand how much I want to be with you.”

“Sora,” she breathed and wrapped her arms around him tightly. She felt the twisted energy in his stomach. She felt the damage from the bullets and the crags of scars on his shoulders from the burns and the old scars on his back from the lash of a whip. He had been through so much. Yet he still had so much love to offer her, so much of everything to offer her. 

He was giving her everything he had.

“I love you,” she whispered. “But I don’t want to rush you before you’re ready.”

“I’m ready—”

“No, you’re hurt,” Kairi murmured. 

“Do you not want to be with me?”

“Sora, I want you to heal first. I don’t want to rush this. I couldn’t take it if you… regretted… being with me.”

Sora cupped her face in his hands. “I would never regret…” 

Then, he gently feathered his lips on her cheek, working his way slowly to her mouth and kissing her mouth. Kairi hugged him tightly, kissing him almost desperately and holding him so tight it was like she wanted to pull him inside her body. He clutched her to him, threading his fingers through her cranberry hair.

“Hey, lovebirds,” Xion said from the threshold of the doorway. “Come inside. Dinner’s ready.”

Kairi’s face heated with a blush and she wanted to snap at Xion that they were not lovebirds, but Sora was staring at her with those radioactive cerulean blue eyes of his. Instead, she smiled and threaded her fingers through his. 

“Okay, we’re coming,” she said.

Xion smiled, pink lips curving mischievously. 

Namine came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder, arms crossed and glaring. “Don’t even think about it, Xion,” she snapped.

Sheepishly, Xion ducked into the kitchen, slinking about like a cat.

Roxas had prepared a nice meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, hush puppies, string beans, and corn. They all sat down around a salvaged driftwood table, set beautifully with paper plates and glasses. While they ate, Kairi held Sora’s hand under the table. When they finished, she leaned over and kissed his cheek. 

Roxas smiled and said softly, “It’s about time.” Then, he set about clearing the table without another word.

X X X

I posted my Meth Awareness one-shot. It's for Danny Phantom and titled "Not Even Once." I'd love it if some of my usual readers would check it out and review!

Questions, comments, concerns?


	34. Xion and Namine

My cat is snoring. It’s really annoying.

X X X

The next day dawned clear and bright, but there was a looming thunderhead on the horizon, threatening rain. The ocean was wine-dark and as smooth as glass. There was a cold breeze blowing in off it, rattling the windows of the “Donovan” beach house. Roxas had made pancakes for breakfast, topped with blueberries and whipped cream and plenty of syrup. 

It was then that Xion chose to make her announcement—at breakfast, while everyone had knives and forks in their hands. “Um, guys, I have something to say,” she said and folded her hands neatly in her lap, staring at her empty plate. 

Namine looked up from her plate, Roxas turned from the stove, Kairi and Sora swiveled their heads in her direction. 

Xion suddenly felt nervous, but she had been with these people forever, they were her family. She knew they would support her decision. “I’ve decided to go with Yuffie and Leon to start the next group of rebels in the big city. Leon wants to leave Yuffie and me in charge,” she said.

Roxas’s blue eyes widened. He was probably wondering how he had missed this memo being that he talked to Leon every day. “This is really what you want?” he asked. 

Namine sat back in her chair. “That’s a great idea, Xion. You and Yuffie are unstoppable,” she said.

Sora’s fingers tightened around his fork until they were white and painful-looking. “What?”

Kairi eased the fork from Sora’s hand. “Sora, let go. She’ll be fine,” Kairi told him. “Are you sure? Have you thought this over?”

“Yeah, actually, I have. Leon wants to expand, but he doesn’t want Yuffie to be heading up a division alone. Since we get along so well, he asked me if I wanted to go along with her.” She smiled. “I said yes. I really want to do this. Just sitting here isn’t enough for me.”

“But, Xion, it’s going to be dangerous,” Sora protested. He pressed his hand to his damaged abdomen. “What if you get hurt? Or worse, killed?”

Her mouth curled into a frown. “I’ve thought of that but no guts, no glory. Someday, slavery is going to be abolished and I want to be able to say I was one of the people who helped make it that way. I want that for myself like I’ve never wanted anything else in my life.”

Sora stared absently at her, but then let his breath out in a rush. “If that’s what you want, then I think you should go for it. You’re powerful, Xion,” he murmured. “You’re not afraid of anything. Sometimes, I wish I was like you.”

Namine poked at a loose blueberry on her plate, watching it roll through the thick syrup. “I’m with Sora,” she said. “Nothing frightens you. You should go.”

Kairi handed Sora his fork. “I agree.”

Roxas turned off the stove, came, and sat down at the table with them. “Is this really what you want?”

She thought for a moment and then said, “Yes.”

“Alright, then I agree with the others. Is Yuffie going to pick you up on her way to the city?”

“Yeah.”

“When’s she coming?” Namine asked.

Xion looked at her watch. “Actually, she’ll be here any minute.”

“What?!” They exclaimed. 

“Well,” Xion fidgeted. “I figured if you said ‘No,’ I could squeak out quickly. There wouldn’t be much time for us to be all awkward.”

Roxas rolled his eyes. “Are you packed?”

“Yup!”

There was a knock at the door, but before anyone could even get up to answer it, it was flung open and Yuffie bounced in. As before, she was all exposed flesh and glowing honest chocolate eyes. She was wearing a dark blue tank top with white flowers embroidered on it and a short leather vest. Her taupe shorts were unbuttoned and unzipped, showing the tops of her black lacy panties. On her feet were knee-high lace-up white boots with thigh-high black socks underneath. There were fingerless black gloves on her hands. Her dark hair was still loose and wild, held back by a headband. “Hey all!” Yuffie said cheerily. “Like it? This is my beach look!” 

“It’s great!” Xion said. She bounced over and hugged Yuffie tightly. “I’m ready to go. I just have to grab my bag.”

“Okay!” Yuffie flounced over to Sora and hugged him gingerly. “Hey, how are you holding up, Sora?”

“Doing better,” he said with a small smile. It was hard not to smile when Yuffie was around. Her cheer was contagious.

“Leon said you almost didn’t make it.”

Sora nodded, putting his hand to his damaged stomach. 

Yuffie watched the movement, but didn’t ask to see the scars. She kissed him gently on the cheek. “I’m glad you made it. It would have been so boring without you,” she murmured. “Our Kairi would have been lost.” Yuffie winked at Kairi and her face heated up with a pink blush. 

“Yuffie!” 

Giggling, Yuffie bounced around the table and hugged Roxas and Namine in turn. Then, she took some time to whisper to Roxas, most likely explaining why Leon hadn’t told him about the new rebel camp. Then, Xion was back and they were ready to go. Xion hugged everyone tightly and promised to call when she could. Then, she and Yuffie left.

The beach house felt quiet without her. 

…

Sora and Kairi were out for a walk along the beach. Namine approached Roxas where he was sitting at the kitchen table, pouring over maps and trying to figure out how thick in it Xion had gotten herself. She sat down beside him and put her hand over his. Roxas looked up, meeting her eyes.

“Namine? Is something wrong?” he asked.

“No, not really.”

“Is it Xion?”

“No.”

Roxas stared at her, unsure of what to say. 

“Roxas, I…” she glanced away, pale cheeks heating up to cherry-red. “I like you. I really like you!” For a moment, she trembled as if afraid. Then, she lifted her eyes and stared at him so hard he felt as if her eyes were a physical touch. 

“You what?” he whispered. 

“I… I like you. I want to be with you.” She bolted from her chair and threw her arms around his neck. He felt her lips on his throat and pushed her back.

“Namine, stop. Let me talk.”

Her blue eyes were full of tears, sparkling and spilling over. 

He cupped her face in his hands and gently kissed her tears away. “I like you, too. It’s okay,” he whispered. 

She let out a heart-wrenching sob. “I was so afraid. I want to be like Kairi and Sora.”

“Like Kairi and Sora?”

She sniffled. “You see the way they look at each other. They’ve been through so much together. They have a bond. I remember hearing her screaming for him in the hospital. I bet she pulled him back from the grave,” she sobbed. “They’re in love.”

“In love?” he repeated. “Do you love me?”

“Yes.” 

Roxas hugged her tightly and feathered his lips on her cheek, her eyes, finally her lips. Namine kissed him back almost desperately, clutching him tightly. When he slipped his tongue into her mouth, she let out a small moan of bliss. He threaded his fingers through her soft platinum hair and pulled her closer to him, as if to absorb her into his body. He didn’t know how long her hand been kissing her, but his lungs finally demanded air and forced them apart. She gasped in a breath of air and then kissed him again. Roxas gathered her up in his arms, relishing her touch as she slipped her fingers beneath his shirt and explored his bared flesh.

“Can you love a slave?” she whispered against his mouth. 

“You’re not a slave anymore.”

X X X

Okay, so there was Roxas and Namine’s developed relationship.

Next chapter will be the last, but it might be a little while in the making. Sora and Kairi’s scene, finally! I have to be in the mood to write it.

Questions, comments, concerns?


	35. Named

Last chapter, how sad.

X X X

It was weird without Xion—quiet, still, peaceful. Kairi was sitting out on the edge of the deck with her toes buried in the white sand, enjoying the silence and the calm, shadowed by the porch of the beach house. Namine and Roxas were distant silhouettes on the beach, walking and holding hands, kissing. For the first time in what felt like months, Kairi was without Sora. He was inside, but she wasn’t sure what he was doing. She reclined on her hands and tilted her head up towards the sky. 

Far out in the sea, there was a sailboat with big white billowing sails that caught the last rays of the sunlight and appeared to glow. The sun was just sinking below the horizon, painting the sky beautiful blues, pinks, and reds. There were tufts of cotton-candy-fluff clouds and the beautiful scene was reflecting on the glassy ocean. It was even more beautiful twice. 

Kairi heard the door open behind her and tried not to turn and look. She knew it was Sora because Namine and Roxas had just gone around the bend of the coast and out of sight. Sora’s footsteps were quiet and soft as he padded up behind her. Then, he eased himself down beside her and she watched him splay his fingers across his damaged abdomen tenderly from the corner of her eyes. 

“Hey Kairi,” Sora murmured. “Where are Roxas and Namine?”

She angled her chin at the curve of the beach. “Walking and holding hands and kissing, being all romantic,” she said and hated the small soft want in her voice. “They’ve been together a lot lately. I think they’re in love.” 

“Ah,” was all he said and shifted uncomfortably.

Kairi tried not to sigh. Since the night she and Sora had talked and he had desperately kissed her, he pulled away every time she tried to touch him. It was as if he was afraid. Kairi put her hand over his where it was next to her hip, but he pulled his warm flesh away from her and lowered his face so that she couldn’t see the expression in his beautiful baby blue eyes. 

“Sora,” she whispered. 

Then, she turned away, tried to ignore the burning wetness in her eyes and the knot in her throat, and looked out over the ocean. She ached with want for him and her womb rocked emptily inside of her. It felt like ages since she had been touched, even by Riku in the darkness of the playground at night with the sand rough against her back and the air cool on her skin and the coldness gleaming in his green eyes. She didn’t long for Riku or some random fling, though. 

Quite the opposite… 

She wanted Sora. And only Sora! 

But he seemed to be denying her what she really wanted, the only thing she wanted, denying her himself.

Why didn’t she take him when he was hers? When he could not push her away? When she owned him?

Kairi glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. He was touching his stomach, feeling the damage and the crags beneath his soft blue-grey shirt. His face was sad and lined. He looked hurt and small, like a young child who had been beaten. 

Her mind was tied in a knot. Why hadn’t she taken him when he was hers?

“Kairi?”

She didn’t hear Sora. She could have had him when he was hers, when he was her slave. He wouldn’t have been able to tell her no or push her away when she wanted him. It was only now, when he denied her, that she truly wanted him.

“Kairi?”

“Why didn’t I take him then?” she whispered to herself, unaware of Sora right beside her, watching the expressions on her face with anxiety. “I could have had him.”

“What?”

“Why didn’t I take him when he belonged to me?”

“Belonged to…?” Sora whispered. So far as he knew, Kairi had only ever owned one person… him. He reached out a shaking hand and grasped her shoulder with his hard trembling fingers. 

She jolted, whipping her head to meet his frightened blue eyes. It was then that she knew she had done something wrong. “Sora! No, what did I say?”

He made a small choking sound deep in his throat. “Are you thinking about… about…” his voice cracked and he sputtered hopelessly for a moment. Then, his beautiful eyes barred themselves from her like steel doors slamming shut. His voice was cold when he spoke again. “Are you thinking about forcing yourself on me?”

Kairi felt cold. A ghost touched her, the ghost of all her past screw ups. “Sora, please,” she whispered. She reached for him and he didn’t pull away, but his body was rigid in her hands. She hugged him to her, but he did not relax his stone-hard posture. She kissed his face, but he turned his head so that all she could see was his profile and kiss his cheek. 

“Go ahead,” he whispered. “I’m ready.” He sounded like he was giving her permission to kill him, to break his neck, to cut his throat.

“Sora, no, please, let me explain.”

“I thought you loved me… liked me… cared about me. I thought you weren’t going to hurt me,” he whispered. 

“Sora—”

He turned his eyes to her and they glowed in the darkness of the fading sun, beautiful crystal-clear pools of blue. “It’s okay. Go ahead. Do what you want to me. I don’t care,” he whispered. 

“Sora—”

“Do. What. You. Want. With. Me.”

Kairi cupped his face in her hands. There were tears gathering in the corners of his eyes, fear and something else she couldn’t describe… Hatred? Sorrow? Disappointment? “Please, it’s just… I want you so much, so badly,” she whispered. 

“Go ahead. Have me.”

“But, Sora… I want you to… want me,” she whispered.

“I did,” he said.

“Did what?”

“Want you… I did want you.”

“Not anymore?”

He trembled, eyes flashing like pieces of torn cut sky. 

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “It’s just… every time I touched you, you pulled away from me.”

“If I didn’t… I would have kissed you.”

Kairi felt stupid. She should have just talked to Sora. Instead, she had let her mind wander and she had fucked up so badly this time. God, he thought she had been thinking about raping him! But the sick part was, it wasn’t too far from the truth. She had been wondering why she hadn’t had her way with him, raped him, back when he was still her worthless property, back when he was her slave. “Sora—”

He shook his head. “No,” he whispered. Then, he looked out over the beautiful sea. “Why would I think you would have wanted my love along with my body?” He glanced at her and his eyes were so big, so broken, so tired. “No one has ever wanted me for anything more than my body.” He barked a small laugh and pulled up his shirt, revealing the thick ugly scars in his abdomen. “Even now, when I’m damaged like this, you still only want my body.”

“Sora—”

“What is it about this body that everyone likes so much? It’s hurt and dirty and skinny and useless!” He gouged his fingers into the flesh of his belly, not quite breaking the skin, but definitely hurting himself. 

Kairi grabbed his hands and tried to pull them away, but he tore from her. 

“Don’t touch me!”

“Sora—”

“Why you, Kairi?”

“What?”

“Why did you have to do this to me? Why you?” He touched his shoulders, then her hands, her shoulders, her face. He put his fingers on her eyes, forcing them closed. “I trust you. I love you. Why did you have to hurt me?”

“Sora, please, I didn’t mean to.”

He pulled away from her and pressed his finger to his eyes. “I thought this would be different. I’m free. You saved me. I found my brother,” he whispered. “Everything was perfect… too perfect, I guess.”

“Sora, please.”

“Please, what, Kairi? Are you going to apologize and somehow make it better?”

“Could I?” 

He blinked at her as if not understanding. “Would you?”

“Yes. You mean so much to me, but all I’m good at is screwing up.”

“Screwing up?”

“Yes. That’s all I’ve done. I’ve hurt you so many times.”

He touched her face, tucked some soft ruby hair behind her ear. “But you’ve saved me. You’ve given me this life, my life.” 

She shook her head. “That means nothing. I fell into saving you, into loving you. If things had stayed the way they were, I wouldn’t love you now. It was all Riku,” she whispered and some awe crept into her voice as she realized some things for the first time. “He destroyed me at the dance and pushed me into Roxas and Xion. They love slaves, treat them equally. If he hadn’t done that, I would have stayed with him. I would have kept starving you during the day, kept hurting you just to make him like me, hiding every sign of compassion I had. I would have used you up.”

“What about the piano?” he whispered.

“That was all Roxas. The way he took art classes just to make Namine happy made me want to do something for you, to see the gratitude in your face like I saw in hers for him.”

“What about when… Tristan came and I killed him and your mother had me taken away?”

Kairi’s throat tightened. “I would have let you go,” she whispered because she couldn’t lie to him when he was staring at her with those eyes of his. “I would have let you die without a second thought. It was Namine and Roxas and Xion that made me want to save you. If I hadn’t met them, you would’ve been nothing to me—just a slave.”

He made a small broken sound and was quiet for a moment, as if thinking. Then, finally, “What about Yuna?”

“Yuna?”

Sora nodded. “I stood up for her and you had to hurt me. I told you about the rape.”

Kairi felt a coldness settle in her chest. What would she have done? She wasn’t without a heart and she remembered him kneeling on her floor, shoulders hunched in, looking small and vulnerable. His words… sad and soft and afraid… 

_“I know what it feels like to be broken into like that… It's the worst thing ever…"_

_"Broken into? You've been raped?"_

_"It hurts… so much…"_

She tried to get some air into her parched lungs. “I don’t know,” she said finally. “I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

He smiled softly, as if he had won something. He touched her bare shoulder, traced the path of her collarbone to her soft white throat. She felt his fingers pressing on her pulse, feeling it, measuring it. “It’s okay,” he whispered suddenly. “I forgive you… I understand.”

“What?” she gasped, shocked.

He didn’t speak again or explain himself, just leaned over and gently kissed her bare shoulder. 

“Sora, you don’t have to…”

“I know,” he whispered, “but that’s why I want to.”

“You aren’t angry?”

“No. No.”

“But—”

“Not anymore.”

“But—”

“Please, Kairi, just let me touch you.”

She gently enveloped him in her arms. “You can do whatever you want to me.”

“Don’t say that, not to me.”

“Why?”

“Because… that makes it sound forced. I don’t want it to be that way.”

She threaded her fingers through his hair. “It won’t be, but I want you to know that you can…”

He kissed the soft swell of her breast over the neck of her tank top. She made a soft sound, skin flushed with heat and softness. She touched his damaged back, his damaged shoulders, his smooth chest, his damaged stomach… Sora was like a patchwork of perfection and pain—some places smooth and flawless, others ragged with scars and breaks beneath the skin, but all beautiful. He put his hands beneath her shirt, feeling her soft skin and then hesitating at the elastic of her bikini. 

“Go ahead,” she whispered. 

Sora cupped her breasts neatly in his soft hands, fondling gently as if he had never touched a woman before. He rolled her nipples between his fingers, relishing the way she arched against him and purred his name. She pulled him off the deck and into the sand suddenly, lying on her side facing him. She kissed his throat, his collarbones, his chin, and finally his lips. He traced his fingers down her belly and slipped them into the loose waistband of her shorts. He didn’t hesitate or ask her permission because she made a small desperate sound and he knew that she wanted him—all of him, not just his beautiful ugly body. 

He ran his palm down her pelvis and put his finger between her thighs. She spread her legs for him, draping her leg over his hip and pressing against him. He felt her wetness, her eagerness, how ready she was for him, but he didn’t want to… not yet. He stroked the soft secret pearl and she cried out softly, pushing herself against his hand. Then, he touched the mouth of her cavern and pushed one finger deep inside. She was tight and soft and perfect. Sora kissed her bared throat, feeling her pleasure humming just beneath the thin flesh. 

Sora was stroking her, touched her in all the right places and setting her on fire. She was starving for him to be inside her, but she couldn’t catch her breath long enough to get out any words. He was playing her like the piano—perfectly and beautifully. 

She remembered being with Riku, how he had just plowed into her. He hadn’t been rough or mean, but Sora was making her feel like she was on her honeymoon, loving her so softly and sweetly. Being with Sora was easier than breathing. 

She gasped as he added a second finger and stroked deep inside her while his lips touched her bared stomach, kissing and blowing with is soft chocolate tresses tickling her bared flesh. She touched his face, his hair, his lips, and his scarred shoulders. He touched her deepest secret place.

Her first orgasm rocked her suddenly, like a tidal wave, and she practically screamed his name. He had his head resting on her belly, looking up at her. He looked content, happy with his accomplishments, smiling. She lay, panting and gasping while he continued to gently stroke her belly and hips. 

“Sora, please,” she whispered, no, she begged. “Please, make love to me.”

His eyes flashed in the darkness. “You would ask me to do that?”

She felt like she had done something wrong. “You don’t have to, but I… I want you to… so badly.”

“That’s not what I meant. I mean, you would ask me to… as if I didn’t have to if I didn’t want to?”

She shook her head. “Not if you don’t want to,” she whispered and touched his soft beautiful face. “Not if you don’t want to, Sora.”

He kissed her cheek and then her mouth. He licked her lower lip and she readily opened her mouth for him, tasting him. He had experience under his belt. She could tell by the way he dominated the kiss. And he was trembling, pouring all of himself into her, into this one thing, this one moment. She slipped her hands into his pants, cupping his hips and slowly slithering the jeans down his legs. His boxers were tented with his arousal, but he turned as if to hide from her, hide the fact that he wanted this. 

“Please, Sora,” she whispered.

He turned back to her, leaning on one elbow and staring into her face. 

“I won’t hurt you. We can stop.”

He kissed her gently. “I don’t want to, but I’m… nervous.”

“It’s okay,” she murmured. She allowed some space between them and peeled her shirt over her head, revealing her pretty pink and white striped bikini top and the swell of her breasts and her pert nipples. Then, she smiled at him encouragingly. 

Sora did the same, but nervously. She reached out, cupped his naked scarred shoulders in her hands, and gently touched every inch of him. She kissed his chest—kissed the scar bisecting his sternum, the old wound slicing him from shoulder to hip, the new wounds in his abdomen, and all the little scratches in between. He was beautiful, even as damaged as he was. 

Sora pushed her back before she could reach his waist and the arousal of his crotch. “No,” he whispered. “I don’t want you to…”

“Why not? I won’t hurt you.”

“I know, but…” He looked away and she saw shame and pain in his face. 

“What is it?”

“I’m scarred there too.”

“There?” 

He nodded.

She kissed his cheek, his throat, and his scarred shoulder. “How?”

His throat was working furiously. “Bites, cuts, cruelty.”

“I’m sorry,” Kairi whispered. 

“It’s okay. I know you wouldn’t hurt me, but I’m… afraid.”

“I understand,” she whispered. Then, she kissed her way back up his chest and kissed his lips gently. 

Sora rolled her onto her back and kissed her throat. He cupped her breasts again, kneading them gently, and stroked a burning path down to her belly. “Can I?” 

“Of course,” she whispered. 

He pulled down her shorts and panties and slipped from his boxers. Kairi wrapped her legs around his naked waist. He pushed up her bikini and suckled her breasts lightly, but did not enter her. She could feel the length of him bumping against her slit. 

“Sora, please,” she whispered and clutched at his back, feeling the scars there.

She felt him smile against her skin and then reach between their bodies. He stroked her, but still did not enter her. 

“Sora!” 

He laughed and it was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard, even if he was laughing at her. She couldn’t even be disgruntled that he was holding himself and pleasure at ransom. 

Finally, he slipped into her and she gasped in relief. He was thick and warm and filled her to the brim. She tipped her head back into the sand and moaned, clutching his waist and his butt and his shoulders. He moved inside her and a spike of pleasure coursed through her burning body. She gasped his name and dug her fingers through his hair, holding him. He began to thrust into her, taking himself away and then bringing himself back to her. 

Heat was building in her belly, throbbing there like a second heartbeat. Sora lifted her legs over his shoulders and each thrust touched something deep inside her that lit her body on fire. She didn’t think it could possibly get any better until he appeared to be everywhere at once. His fingers touched her clit, his other hand massaged her breast, and his mouth was on her other nipple. Only her mouth was free, gasping in breath to try to sustain all the pleasure wracking her. 

Too soon, her muscles seized around him and her second orgasm rocked through her entire body. Brought over by her pleasure, Sora pulled out and began to milk himself in his hand. He spilled his seed into the sand, but then slid back into her. 

Kairi gripped his body against her chest, feeling him softening and sticky inside her. 

“You’re… that was amazing…” she whispered to him.

“That was my love for you,” he murmured. 

She rested her cheek on the top of his head, inhaling the scent of his skin and hair. 

“I love you, Sora.”

“And I you.”

The waves lapped up on the beach, soothing and ever-lasting. In the distance, the light house beam cut through the velvety night sky all speckled with diamond stars. It looked like the boarding school on the cliffs where it all had started. It was beautiful.

X X X

Questions, comments, concerns?

And, drum roll please, we are finished!

Here we go.

Very important author's note:

First, drop a review and let me know what you think! Are the characters way out of character? Does everybody hate Riku for being all over the place? Think I torture Sora way too much (but it's because he's so easy to be mean to, though I always make sure to give everybody a happy ending!)? Are permanently disgusted and can no longer even play Kingdom Hearts thanks to me? Loved it? Hated it? Are scared for life because of what happened to Sora? Think there was way too much going on in this story? (Flames will be used to roast marshmallows and weenies!) Think I need to do more editing before I post chapters? Post to slow? Chapters are too short? Too long? Yada, yada, yada…

Second, I own nothing except my original characters: like Tristan and Kairi’s mother and all my teachers. I also own my plot! So there, now I can't be sued!

Third, there will be no sequel… at all, so don't ask!

Fourth, check out my first ORIGINAL NOVEL! **The Breaking of Poisonwood by Paradise Avenger.** (Summary: People were dead. When Skye Davis bought me at a slave auction as a birthday present for his brother, I had no idea what my new life was going to be like, but I had never expected this. It all started when Venus de Luna was killed and I was to take her place, to become the new savior… Then, bad things happened and some people died. In the heart of the earth, we discovered the ancient being that Frank Davis had found and created and used to his advantage. The Poisonwood—)Finally, thank you for making it this far! All the way to the end! Woot! Yay!

And so, I bid you adieu.


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